How Irish Is Tyson Fury?

On Saturday night, Tyson Fury become heavyweight champion of the world after beating Wladimir Klitschko. Fury grew up in the Manchester area, was born into a family of Irish traveller heritage and has said he is Irish. He wanted to fight for Ireland in the 2008 Olympics but was prevented from doing so over eligibility issues – he told the BBC in 2011 that he eventually managed to get his Irish papers sorted. Fury 27, once told Irish Central.com: “All my people are from Ireland. I was born in Manchester but I am Irish. I have lived in Ireland, visited all my life and when I fight I represent Ireland. It means a lot to me as does the support I get when I fight in Belfast.” Whether he's the kind of world champion Ireland would want is another matter. Fury has made many controversial statements, once suggesting that legalisation of homosexuality would lead to the apocalypse. British Shadow Cabinet minister Chris Bryant said today he would not be celebrating Fury’s recent win because “his aggressive style of foul homophobia is precisely the kind that leads to young gay suicides”.