Tyson Fury Lives Up to His Word

On Saturday night Tyson Fury both outboxed and outpointed Wladimir Klitschko to become only Great Britain's fifth bona fide world heavyweight champion, joining Lennox Lewis, Frank Bruno, Bob Fitzsimmons and rival David Haye.

It wasn't the most entertaining contest in history, but it's undeniable Fury lived up to his word and beat the younger Klitschko brother—who endured his first loss in well over ten years.

Was it Klitschko's 39 years catching up with him in the ring? At 27-years-old and just 25 fights into his career, Fury is a young whippersnapper in comparison. However, Klitschko's decade of dominance over boxing's heavyweight division and Saturday's performance suggests Fury's in-ring style is as complicated to work out as his character beyond the ropes.

Over the years the self-styled "Gypsy King" has attracted far more headlines for his outlandish behavior than his boxing credentials—and perhaps unfairly so. But, in an age of easy, click-bait media headlines, it's understandable. Due to this, a lot of the UK press, fellow pugilists and Britain's rabid boxing fan base had written Fury off as nothing more than a charlatan.

Besides his unorthodox press conference appearances and his on-air rants, one of the Gypsy King's signature moves to rile up his opponents and audiences around the world is to burst into impromptu song.

Not only did Fury promise to snatch the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles from Klitschko's grasp, he also promised to serenade his foe in the ring once it was all said and done. There was a slight change of subject for Fury's planned song after receiving news his wife Paris was pregnant with their third child—joining Prince John Junior and Venezuela in Tyson's clan.

But, nevertheless, Fury still did his best to try and steal Rod Stewart's thunder—who struggled in his performance in front of the 54,600-capacity crowd at Dusseldorf, Germany's Espirit Arena in the lead up to the main event—with a rendition of Aerosmith's "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing."

He had been preparing for his big moment with more singing in the lead-up to the fight which turned out to be a sign of things to come with the benefit of hindsight.

Despite Fury having clearly outfoxed and outboxed Klitschko on the night, was the Gypsy King's antics an example of one fighter expertly psyching out his opponent? After all, Wladimir Klitschko has seen all boxing has to offer, facing the likes of the trash-talking David Haye, being hounded by Shannon Briggs (Let's go champ!) and being spat in the face by his brother Vitali's opponent Dereck Chisora —a disgusting incident which completely unfazed the giant Ukrainian.

Post-fight, Fury has been assured and uncharacteristically calm—exuding the same confidence he displayed in the lead-up to the biggest fight of his life. On Monday, in classic Tyson Fury style with his penchant for similes, he told reporters: ""I am not surprised or overwhelmed. We always said what I would do and it came true. My performance, out-boxing him, was better than knocking him out in two. I beat him in his own home and I am like a mongoose going into a cobra's nest, taking all the eggs home with me." That he did.

Singing aside, Fury was fairly classy in his interview immediately after having got the nod from the judges present, telling of his respect for the man he had just beaten and interviewer Lennox Lewis—a British boxing hero who has had a series of spats with Fury in the past. However, like always with Fury, there is a bizarre twist to the night as he accused Klitschko's camp of being "extremely good at cheating." So much so, Fury avoided drinking any water provided at the arena through fear of it being spiked with prohibited substances which would see him fail a drugs test—meaning he went home severely dehydrated after a long 12-round fight.

This comes after the Fury camp went close to calling the fight off altogether just hours before the event due to Klitschko having his hands wrapped without any officials present and the excessive padding positioned under the ring canvas. Klitschko had to have his hands re-wrapped and some foam was removed from the ring as a result.

Whether you put Saturday night's result down to Klitschko's age or the relentless mind games getting the better of him, Tyson Fury proved the vast amount of doubters wrong with his comfort in taking the step-up in competition, his stirring victory and the resulting title haul. Not bad for a man who was considered a joke by many and is arguably most (in)famous for punching himself in the face mid-fight.