Behind the scenes of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury's celebration
LAS VEGAS – Shirtless and smiling through two swollen eyes, the heavyweight champion greeted his new visitors by pulling out two iced Heinekens from a metal bucket, inviting them to unwind and celebrate alongside him.
The most magnetic sportsmen are the ones we most relate to.
England’s Tyson Fury checks so many of those boxes, as he did Saturday night after a trilogy closing bout that's being hailed as arguably the most entertaining combat sports event of the young century.
Someone asked him what he anticipated doing after recovering from two fourth-round knockdowns to ultimately finish former champion Deontay Wilder by 11th-round technical knockout.
Fury’s response wasn’t to assess something months away – his likely next bout against the Oct. 30 Dillian Whyte-Otto Wallin winner or perhaps an opportunity to achieve undisputed heavyweight champion status by meeting three-belt-wearing Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk.
No, Fury said he just wanted to taste a beer.
Indeed, it had been a hard day’s night for the unbeaten return champion who loves to sing – he belted out an alternate version of Marc Cohn’s "Walking in Memphis" entitled "Walking in Vegas" before leaving the ring. He then found himself amid a packed house of millennials who had gathered to see Fury and popular DJ Steve Aoki at Las Vegas’ Hakkasan Nightclub inside MGM Grand, an opportunity to embrace his people and sing again.
This time, Fury returned to his standard, Don McLean’s 1970s classic "American Pie." Fury movingly intoned those lyrics – "I knew if I had my chance/that I could make those people dance/and maybe they’d be happy for a while" – after his first bout against Wilder in December 2018, a stirring draw that came following his recovery from depression that cost him his three heavyweight belts and led him to abuse alcohol, drugs and food.
True to the lyrics, Fury had the raving, moshing kids providing the chorus to the same words, serenading them as Saturday night turned to Sunday morning inside the club; Aoki urging them on by providing the pounding, night-long backbeat to the festivities surrounding the self-proclaimed “fighting man," who needed every ounce of his will to survive the hellish, revenge-filled attack of the division’s most powerful puncher, Wilder.
Retreating to a booth that included his wife, Paris, his brothers, Tommy and Shane, and several other friends, Fury greeted each visitor who was eager to congratulate him, nodding in satisfaction as they told him, "I’ve never seen a fight that good", "You are a true champion" and "You’ve sealed your legend."
I can recall a Hollywood producer telling me upon Fury’s decision to fight exclusively in the U.S. after the Wilder draw that Fury’s story – above that of any other athlete – was ripe for a film treatment.
The movie has only gotten better.
Inside the booth, Tommy and close male friends mimicked Fury's penchant for going shirtless. The shaggy haired Shane stood atop a platform near Aoki, eschewing alcohol as if employed by the same security force keeping a watchful eye over the photo-snapping crowd hovering near the lineal heavyweight champion who carries the moniker "baddest man on the planet."
Fury’s team at this hour only allowed two journalists to be in his audience – myself and Gareth A. Davies of London’s Daily Telegraph.
Davies had asked Fury at the post-fight news conference if he would ponder retirement now that Wilder was dismissed and the $150 million purse that Fury was to split with former three-belt champion Anthony Joshua had been voided by Joshua’s upset loss to Usyk last month.
"That was a good question," Fury confided to Davies. "What more do I need to fight for?"
These thoughts and so many others race through a fighter’s mind in the hours following victory over a fierce foe. Especially on a night like this.
Finally, with the greeting over and that beer absorbed, Fury finally relaxed, sitting back in the corner of his booth, scanning the crowd’s happiness, whispering something in his wife’s ear.
The DJ, Aoki, captured the moment perfectly, selecting Bob Marley’s "Three Little Birds" as the next song up.
"Don’t worry about a thing/'cause every little thing’s gonna be all right."