We can all agree, I think, that the notion of a Sports Personality of the Year is something of an oxymoron. By and large sports people don’t really score on personality; there’s usually a tradeoff between being committed and being interesting; see Andy Murray. So the BBC title of that name has nothing really to do with personality; it’s more about profile and performance.
That’s plainly not true though of the aptly named Tyson Fury, the 18 stone boxing champion who came out of nowhere to become world heavyweight champion and who has personality in spades. He’s got a fabulous backstory too – the son of Irish travellers (interestingly his mother was a Belfast Prod) who came from a characteristically enormous family and who left school at 11. He’s a giant who’s utterly committed to his wife, with whom he rather wonderfully said he didn’t sleep before they were married (now that takes courage).
He doesn’t give much of a toss about received opinion, as can be seen in his view of homosexuality, which he tends to put on much of a level as paedophilia.
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