Heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko isn’t exactly known for his exciting boxing style, so it’s largely been up to his opponent Tyson Fury to add a little hullabaloo to their upcoming fight on Oct. 24. And rather than just stick with some ho-hum trash talk, Fury went completely over the top during a recent press conference, dressing up as Batman and taking down someone in a Joker costume.
The whole thing played out in as ridiculous a fashion as you can imagine. For one thing, Fury’s Batman costume was cheap and ill-fitting and looked like something a crack addict in Times Square might wear. Then when ‘The Joker’ appeared, the two rolled around on the floor for almost a minute as confused reporters scratched their heads. The theme to the ’60s Batman TV show played through a small boombox carried by Tyson’s cornermen. At one point, they rolled into the conference table holding Klitschko’s many championship belts, scattering them onto the floor.
This is just the latest odd boxing press conference we’ve seen in the past few weeks, as fighters attempt to cut through the noise and pull in more pay-per-view buys for their fight. Last month, Shane Mosley’s girlfriend had her butt slapped by Ricardo Mayorga during a media event, an incident many thought looked staged. At least Tyson Fury isn’t pretending any of his hijinx are for real.
Once back in Bruce Wayne attire, Fury ripped into Klitschko, yelling, “You’ve never fought a Gypsy King before. I cannot wait. It’s a very personal mission for me to rid boxing of a boring person like you. I’ve fallen asleep listening to you. You have as much charisma as my underpants: Zero. None! You are a robotic person who is not exciting to watch. Jab, jab, hold. That’s all you do.”
For his part, Klitschko watched Fury’s Batman impersonation with mild amusement, and laughed at Fury’s smacktalk. With a 64-3 record (53 wins via KO) and a 10-year reign holding The Ring, IBF, WBO, IBO, and WBA (Super) titles, he seemed confident that any victories won by Tyson outside the ring wouldn’t make a difference once the real fight begins. Bookies seem to agree, having the fight at -400 for Klitschko with Fury a +300 underdog.
That’s still closer odds than any challenger in the past few years, though. And even if Klitschko seems likely to win this one, it also looks like Tyson Fury is going to go all out to make things interesting.
