WWE Raw: Who Is Tyson Fury And Why Does He Hate Braun Strowman?

Tyson Fury, the unbeaten former world heavyweight champion boxer, will appear on this week’s Monday Night Raw for what is being promoted as an “open microphone” segment following what happened on Friday Night SmackDown last week. But before all of that gets underway, here’s a bit of background on “The Gypsy King.” Born and raised in Manchester, England, the British boxer competed in his first professional fight back in December 2008. He won the English heavyweight title, the first of many championships he would hold, by beating John McDermott via points less than a full year later. After years of fighting almost exclusively in the United Kingdom, Fury achieved worldwide fame in November 2015 when he defeated Wladimir Klitschko via unanimous decision to win the WBA Super, IBF, WBO, IBO, The Ring and lineal heavyweight championships.

However Fury would have to vacate all of his championships due to a variety of reasons, mostly surrounding an inability to book a rematch with Klitschko, mental health issues and a failed drug test in which he tested positive for cocaine. Fury would not fight again until June 2018, and he came up short in his next attempt to win a championship when his bout with Deontay Wilder for the WBC heavyweight title ended in a draw in December 2018. As of now, his pro boxing record stands at 29-0-1.

Fury is also no stranger to controversy, as WWE.com’s preview of his segment pointed out. Back in 2016 the former champ was recorded making numerous racist, homophobic, transphobic and anti-Semitic comments. He later publicly apologized for all of his statements, saying, “I said some things which may have hurt some people – which as a Christian man is not something I would ever want to do. I apologise to anyone who may have taken offence at any of my comments. Though it is not an excuse, sometimes the heightened media scrutiny has caused me to act out in public.

“I know more is expected of me as an ambassador of British boxing and I promise in future to hold myself up to the highest possible standard,” he added.

Which brings us to Braun Strowman. During an eight-man tag match on SmackDown’s FOX premiere, the “Monster Among Men” spotted Fury in the front row and jokingly gave a boxing pose in front of him. He then tossed Dolph Ziggler over the barricade onto Fury, which caused the former champ to jump the barricade and try to go after Strowman. He was stopped by security guards as Strowman laughed.

Strowman continued to tease a feud with Fury during a six-man tag match at Hell in a Cell when he delivered a midair knockout punch to AJ Styles before winning the match.