An English catholic who has spent a lifetime fighting his demons and a Russian muslim who has wrestled a grizzly bear will strive to knock the living daylights out of each other in a London football ground this Saturday night.
Tyson Fury will read the bible and Arslanbek Makhmudov the quran before they embark on their collision course at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Gypsy King is making his fifth comeback of a career pockmarked by retirements in hope it will open a pathway to the pantheon of three-time world heavyweight champions. He does so at 37, having moved home from Morecambe to the Isle of Man tax haven to preserve his hard-earned fortune for his seven children.
The Kumyk Lion, whose entry to the professional ranks was delayed until he emigrated to Canada in 2017 at the age of 28, hopes his 24th fight will lead to a first world title bid.
‘It’s destiny,’ says Fury. ‘I am loving my time being back in the spotlight and would like to become world heavyweight champion again.’ He is about to be rich enough to do everything he wants in his life.
Tyson Fury’s devoted wife Paris wishes he stayed retired this time – but he’s back in the ring
Opponent Arslanbek Makhmudov posted a remarkable video wrestling with a grizzly bear
‘I am the character who will bring our sport out of its schtum and I need this dangerous opponent to help me Make Boxing Great Again.’
Just how dangerous is Makhmudov? Well, he has racked up 19 KOs in his 21 victories but also has excuses for his two defeats – both by stoppage – and for being taken the distance by UK cult heavyweight Dave Allen in his most recent fight.
The scariest image of this softly spoken man mountain is his fabled grappling with a full grown bear in the woods outside Moscow before he decamped to Montreal.
‘It was for a dare by a friend of mine,’ he explains while peering through a window at the pristine Tottenham field on which a ring is now under construction. ‘It did last a few minutes. Until he tried to bite my ear and I pulled away. I must have been crazy. Never again.’
It is an image which gives Fury food for thought: ‘He’s as big as me. As ugly as me. He’s ranked No 5 in the world by the WBA. Most of his knock-outs have come in the first round. He’s wrestled a bear for fun and I wouldn’t get into a wrestling match with him as all I could do would be grab him by the beard.’
Then he smiles and says: ‘So I will have to do what I always do and box his head right off him.’
And never mind that not only his father John – who may nor may not be at ringside – but his entire extended family including devoted wife Paris wish he had stayed retired this time.
HIs response: ‘We Furys are a conveyor belt of fighters. All the men box or have boxed. All the boys are learning to box. It’s what we do. It’s what I love doing. My dad worries if I’m washed up. Well, 16 months out of the ring at my age may not be ideal. So we’ll see. But I’ve never felt better or happier.’
That describes exactly how he looks. Leaner after losing a stone or two. Tanned upon his return from the Far East. Beaming and animated. The prolonged struggle with his mental health appears to have been won for good and all. There is not so much as a flicker of depression.
Fury looks leaner after losing a stone or two and tanned after his time working abroad
This upbeat Tyson Fury encompasses his assessment of nearly all the big men standing between him and that third world title: ‘Well done to Fabio Wardley winning one of the belts for Britain. But they’re all pretty much the same as Makhmudov. Big, strong, punch hard. What they lack is one thing. It’s called boxing ability and that’s something I’ve got in abundance.’
Presumably that dismissive opinion takes in Moses Itauma, Daniel Dubois, who is Wardley’s next WBO challenger, and Anthony Joshua, who he is asking not to risk fighting Deontay Wilder before he does. But not Oleksandr Usyk, the genius of Kyiv who out-skilled him twice and whose hold on the three other world titles he would like a third shot at during his planned cycle of three more fights in the next 12 months.
‘None of them have what Simon Cowell would call my X-factor personality,’ says Fury. Whether that star is still sufficiently in the ascendancy to fill Tottenham’s 60,000-plus capacity stadium is being called into question by somewhat sluggish sales of cut price tickets this week.
Makhmudov has no doubts about his opponent’s fan appeal. He says: ‘Tyson is a legend as one of the best heavyweights ever. It is odd for me to be preparing to fight one of my idols.
‘I still have an old photograph of us together on my wall.’
If this mere mortal is permitted a prediction, expect the Gypsy King to tame the Lion quickly. Just as he did the big cat he took for walks at his training camp in Thailand.
