By Michael Ashcraft –
When Tyson Fury stood up in the 12th round after a powerful left hook sent him to the canvas, he sent shudders through his opponent Deontay Wilder.
When Fury thanked Jesus over loudspeakers at boxing match in Saudi Arabia, he sent shudders through the Islamic Kingdom, the centerpiece for Muslims.
“First of all, I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” the Gypsy King said on May 11 in Riyadh after he lost by split decision. “I thank Jesus for all the victories he’s given me.”
Saudi Arabia – which massacred and expelled Christians out of its country in centuries gone by – bans any other type of worship service. However, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, since taking over since 2017, has loosened some restrictions and opened the country to tourism, such as hosting the World Cup in 2034 and the bout between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
Did bin Salman get more than he bargained for? He has locked up the hardline Wahhabi imams and stopped spreading the teaching of radicalism that fosters terrorism. But he still must cater to devout masses who believe their truth is so true it can’t tolerate competition.
(Christianity, by contrast, welcomes and applauds all other bids to worldviews and settles them by debate, not by execution.)
Named for heavyweight Mike Tyson, the Wythenshawe, Manchester, England native was highly rated in his rise to championship in the heavyweight category. His upset victory against Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 crowned him heavyweight champion.
His skirmishes against Deontay Wilder are among the most memorable. In the rematch, Wilder connected with a right-left that slammed Fury’s head against the canvas in the 12th round. Believing he had finished off the Irishman, Deontay strutted the ring and readied his heart to hear the loudspeaker announce his revenge.
But Fury, after admittedly being unconscious to the count of six, flicked open his eyelids and instinctively rose. He told the ref he was able and willing to continue the bout and then somehow managed to walk a straight line. Wilder’s heart sank.
It wasn’t the only time he had risen from apparent defeat.
Fury, outside the ring, was getting knocked down by the furies of drugs and depression. He reportedly ingested mountains of cocaine and alcohol as he engorged and bulged to 400 pounds. In 2016, he reached the end and dropped to his knees and cried out to God.
“I went down as a four hundred pound fat guy but when I got up off the floor after praying for like twenty minutes,” he recalls. “I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off me shoulders (sic).”
His dad was Catholic, mom was Protestant, but it was the influence of a born-again preacher uncle who eased Fury into the kingdom of God. Since coming to faith, the outspoken pugilist has taken a stand against abortion, pedophilia and homosexuality, causing leftwing elites around the world to cringe.
But he caused the curators of Islam to cringe when in Saudi Arabia the unapologetic boxer gave the shout out to Jesus. More than a few Muslims winced. Previously, he had worn warm up gear in a Saudi-hosted match that said “3:16,” a not-so-veiled prompt to look up John 3:16.
He and his wife, Paris, are descended from the Irish Travelers, so called Gypsies, hence his nickname The Gypsy King. All of his boys have “Prince” as a first name because he sees himself as rightful king of boxing.
“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved,” he responded to an interviewer who pressed him about his losses in the ring. “Jesus loves me. He loves you too. He loves everybody in the world. Alls (sic) you gotta do is repent of your sins, and you’ll be forgiven.”
To learn more about a personal relationship with Jesus, click here.
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About this writer: Michael Ashcraft pastors a church in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles.
