By Norm Frauenheim-
Tyson Fury is talking again. That, of course, would be news only if he had gone silent for, say, longer than a week or three. Put it this way: He’ll quit talking when the tide quits coming in.
He says he’s retired. He says he’s not. He mentions half-a-billion. He teases and taunts, insults and intrigues, lies and laughs We’ve yet to hear a few lyrics from Bye-Bye, Miss American Pie. But the beat goes on. The whole lousy lounge act is already unfolding.
It’s doesn’t matter what he says. What does matter is that he’s saying it, still saying it all. The heavyweight champ is back at the bully pulpit, which only means that another opening bell can’t be too far away.
There’s an old line that a fight starts at the negotiating table. Fury is already negotiating.
The latest sure sign came in a tweet — a “QUICK MESSAGE…” — from Fury Wednesday.
“A quick message to let everybody know that I, The Gypsy King, am happily retired. But to get me out of retirement – considering I don’t need the money, I don’t need the aggravation – it’s going to cost these people half-a-billion.’’
QUICK REACTION: Gob-smacking, it’s not.
Nobody, including Fury co-promoters Frank Warren and Bob Arum, ever believed that retirement was anything more than a vacation. Fury promised he was done – retired – after his sixth-round stoppage of Dillian Whyte on April 23 in front of 94,000 at London’s Wembley Stadium. Promises last about as long as noses in boxing, of course, They are there to be broken. Fury didn’t even let the seasons change before he started the talk that says he’ll fight again. He retired in early spring. He began signaling another fight before the official start to summer.
It’d be no surprise if Fury backed off his tweet in some way. Another great talker in another sport, basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, once said he had been misquoted in his autobiography, Outrageous. He even said that would try to ban the book, published in 1992. Barkley got away with it, because people like him. They love the self-deprecating humor, the edgy common sense. Same with Fury. He can say whatever he wants. It’s part of the act.
The question, of course, is the half-billion, which could move Fury into the exclusive fringe of the billionaire’s neighborhood, especially if the half-a-bill is paid in pounds instead of dollars. It’s clear that a couple of “the people” in Fury’s tweet are Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk. They’re expected to fight on August 20, at least so says Eddie Hearn, another talker, but no match for Fury.
Fury is already ripping Joshua, calling him a weightlifter among other things. He’s offered to help him in the rematch of Usyk’s upset of the fellow UK heavyweight last September. Then, when asked if he would attend the projected Usyk-Joshua rematch, Fury said he wouldn’t waste his time on “bums.”
The winning bum, of course, could be Fury’s partner in what might be the biggest payday in history. The aforementioned “people” in Fury’s tweet has to be the Arabs. They are the only people who can afford a tank of gas these days. The Usyk-Joshua rematch is expected to happen in the oil-rich state. If Fury changes his mind and decides to attend, maybe he can sit ringside alongside golfer Phil Mickelson, the face of the latest purchase in Saudi Arabia’s sports-washing enterprise.
“If you do get us a deal with these Middle East folks, can you at least get me free fuel for life?” Fury saId this week during a show hosted by Warren’s Queensberry Promotions. “I’m paying a fortune on petrol.”
For now, he’s also doing a little gas-lighting, a traditional starting point in negotiations.
