Controversial Boxer Tyson Fury Stripped Of Heavyweight Title Just Two Weeks After Winning It

In a separate development, Fury has been the subject of a hate crime complaint to Greater Manchester police.

Boxer Tyson Fury, who caused controversy with his recent comments on homosexuality and abortion, has been stripped of his IBF world heavyweight title just two weeks after winning it.

Boxer Tyson Fury, who caused controversy with his recent comments on homosexuality and abortion, has been stripped of his IBF world heavyweight title just two weeks after winning it.

Fury beat Ukrainian fighter Wladimir Klitschko on 28 November to win the IBF heavyweight belt, and subsequently agreed to a rematch with Klitschko.

But this decision was in breach of the IBF's rules, which stipulated that the winner of the fight should face mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov.

Glazkov had won the right to challenge for the title after winning 21 of his 22 professional bouts.

"It's true he's been stripped of his IBF belt," Lindsey Tucker, championships chair at the IBF, told BBC Sport.

"Our challenger was Vyacheslav Glazkov, but instead Fury's gone and signed a rematch clause with Wladimir Klitschko."

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Fury was placed on the shortlist for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award after beating Klitschko – a decision that caused controversy after the fighter compared abortion and homosexuality to paedophilia in an interview.

Fury was placed on the shortlist for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award after beating Klitschko – a decision that caused controversy after the fighter compared abortion and homosexuality to paedophilia in an interview.

The Manchester-born boxer told the Mail on Sunday that he believed three things were going to happen "before the devil comes home".

"One of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other is paedophilia," he said. "Who would have thought in the 50s and 60s that those first two would be legalised?"

Over 100,000 people have now signed a petition to get Fury removed from the shortlist, but the BBC has stood firm, claiming the "personality" competition was in fact about sporting achievements, and not about the personalities of sports stars.

In response to the Change.org petition, the BBC released the following statement:

"The nominees for BBC Sports Personality of the Year are decided on their sporting achievements. As Fury became heavyweight champion of the world over the weekend, the panel feel that he should be a contender for this year's award."

Chris Brunskill / Getty Images

Following the BBC's statement, the boxer found himself at the centre of further controversy after a video emerged in which he commented on the appearance of British Olympic athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill.

Following the BBC's statement, the boxer found himself at the centre of further controversy after a video emerged in which he commented on the appearance of British Olympic athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill.

"That's the runner, isn't it?" said Fury. "She's good, she's won quite a few medals, she slaps up good as well. When she's got a dress on she looks quite fit."

He also commented that a "woman's best place is in the kitchen".

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Oliver Holt, the Mail on Sunday journalist who conducted the interview with Fury in which he compared homosexuality and abortion to pedophilia, has reportedly been the subject of threats from Fury's camp.

MailOnline claim Fury filmed himself saying: "See "big Shane" there. He's 6ft 6in and 25 stone. He's going break his [Holt's] jaw completely with one straight right hand. I won't do it as I'll get in trouble but the big fella there will annihilate him.

"Oliver, take a good look at him because that's the face you're going to see before you hit the deck.

"[Turning camera to another member of his team] And that's the face you're going to see when he's jumping on your head."

A spokesman for the Sports Journalists' Association, the body in charge of the British Sports Awards, said:

"We are aware of threats made by Tyson Fury against one of our members, and therefore feel that it would be incompatible with the nature of our event, or the interests of our members, our other guests and our sponsors, for us to continue to extend a welcome to Tyson Fury to our awards next week."


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