Kellie Maloney has accused Tyson Fury of “degrading” the world heavyweight title with his behaviour since becoming champion.
Fury established himself as the world’s leading heavyweight when, 11 months ago, he unexpectedly defeated Wladimir Klitschko to win the WBA, WBO and IBF titles.
His career, however, has since unravelled. He first postponed a rematch with Klitschko, for his WBA and WBO titles, scheduled for July when citing an ankle injury.
Fury then withdrew from the rearranged date of October 29 amid claims he was “medically unfit” to fight.
On Monday he announced he had retired, before insisting only three hours later his “retirement” was only a joke, one which came months after he had insulted many by airing sexist, homophobic and anti-semitic views.
When she was known as Frank Maloney, Kellie promoted a memorable fight between Fury and John McDermott in 2009. She earlier managed Lennox Lewis, one of Fury’s respected predecessors as world heavyweight champion.
Maloney was also once accused of being homophobic and xenophobic, but asked of Fury, she told Absolute Radio: “He’s degraded the heavyweight championship with his insults to the gay community, with his insults to the trans community, with his insults to human life.
“I was very lucky because I managed a great heavyweight in Lennox Lewis who didn’t behave anything like Tyson Fury. He was very respectable and had a great image.
“I’m a great believer that if you’re the heavyweight champion of the world or you’re the champion of anything, if you’re in the position where people look up to you, you’ve got to set certain standards and become a role model.
“He’s tweeting insulting things to the boxing world and especially when you consider that a young fighter (Mike Towell) died (from injuries sustained in a fight) over the weekend.”
Concerns surrounding Fury’s condition persist. The 28-year-old is expected to be stripped of his WBA and WBO titles because of his inactivity, and his friend and fellow world champion Billy Joe Saunders on Monday told Press Association Sport he is concerned he may be dead by 30 if he “doesn’t get the help he needs”.
