Tyson Fury apologizes for Twitter remarks, denounces homophobia in boxing

Tyson Fury, whose Twitter account has gotten him into hot water on more than one occasion, has apologized for remarks he did make on the site, as well as remarks he said that relatives of his made on his behalf, including one that said all gay people should be shot dead.

Fury says that cousins of his were responsible for the truly offensive tweet, which was then deleted:

"When I found out what they had done I was furious. I said: 'Listen, it's not a funny subject this. You shouldn't get involved in people's sexuality.' And I've got the phone back off them instantly and explained to my followers that those comments weren't mine."

While some may not believe that Fury wasn't responsible for the tweet, it's really not his style to go quite that far. Homophobia of any level shouldn't be condoned, but there's a world of difference between Fury going on Channel 5 and saying that David Price and Tony Bellew are "gay lovers," and something of this nature. I'm not saying I know for sure he's innocent of that one, as he claims, but he usually has a line he doesn't cross, and that's a pretty big line.

Fury continued:

"I've got friends of my own who are gay and it's the 21st century so who cares who is gay and who ain't? People who know me will tell you I've had many a good night out with a few gay people I know. Whatever they are it's none of my business and it's got nothing to do with boxing."

Fury, still just 24, also has said -- here and in the past -- that a lot of the Twitter insults he lays out are just responses to a lot of the hate he gets, and while it may be tough to imagine the 6'9" professional boxer being bullied or the like, he does get a lot of pretty rotten, hateful messages on there. He's still a kid in many ways, and hopefully he can learn to ignore a lot of the nonsense he is sent and just focus on himself. Pretty much every fighter I've seen gets some level of abuse lobbed their way on Twitter, and most of them just ignore it. I don't want to tell him how to handle his affairs or anything, but he might be better served to just write off the morons going forward.

At the very least, he won't have the BBBofC breathing down his neck that way.

Fury also says that his December 1 opponent will be a fighter ranked in the top ten by the WBC. Of those names, American Tony Grano fits the pattern of Fury opponents, and would seem by far the most likely bet.