“Show them where it hurts, abstain from spending your money in their shops and economies, and invest in Black-owned businesses.”
A now infamous line from a speech read by Anthony Joshua at a Black Lives Matter peaceful protest, that encouraged people to not spend their money in businesses that do not support the movement to end racial inequality.
Despite the fact that the world is still struggling to return to some semblance of normalcy during COVID-19, boxing has managed to carve out a slight niche for itself at the moment. Top Rank has resumed cards, with the other promotional mainstays, PBC and Matchroom, returning in the coming weeks and months. There is a possibility for boxing to gain new eyes, new fans, and to take advantage of the complete lack of live sports programming going on in the world right now, which is why it is so important that boxing represents itself well during this time when silence is complicity.
The backlash Anthony Joshua faced for his statement was just a microcosm of the backlash Black boxers and athletes face every day when they speak out on matters of racism and racial inequality. To be clear, nothing Joshua said was racist. His statement, which was not penned by him but by a friend who was unable to attend the rally, was milquetoast by protest standards, but it was a statement nonetheless. Other boxers joined Joshua in making statements condemning racism. Deontay Wilder released a fiery, eloquent spoken word video on his instagram. Errol Spence has been vocal on twitter, as well as a number of other Black boxers. And with every post, they risk the racist vitriol from backwoods, ignorant yokels, who continue to deny systemic racism, despite consistent statistical evidence it exists. These same people, who only need one conspiracy theory on YouTube to believe the COVID pandemic is a hoax, continue to bury their heads in the sand regarding race, and become enraged when prominent Black athletes speak out on it.
As a result of all this vitriol, it becomes ever more important for white athletes to speak out in solidarity with athletes of colour. To show these ignorant people that even the athletes they love are on the right side of history.
Which is why Tyson Fury continues to be a problematic champion.
I am no Tyson Fury fan. I respect his ongoing struggle against mental illness and the way he has been able to beat depression in a battle that will most likely never end. I abhor his anti-semitic, transphobic, racist, and homophobic comments from his past.
I have also heard every excuse in the world for these comments, from the fact that he was on drugs, mentally ill, in the depths of addiction, and so on. Everyone deserves a chance to prove they are better than they were, that they have learned and can attempt to undo the damage they have caused.
Tyson Fury fails at that time and time again. As protests erupted all around the globe, Fury was silent. A meager “Unite for Peace” instagram post was his one message. His silence was extremely loud. Then, as racist statues began falling around the world, revered slave-owners being thrown into rivers, Fury doubled down with a pro-Winston Churchill post, completely tone-deaf to the times, ignorant of the atrocities that Churchill had committed, and the racist sentiments he had toward minorities. Yes, at a time when people of colour were struggling to be heard, where some white athletes were choosing to use their platform and privilege to amplify those voices, Fury posts an homage to the guy who once said of Indian people “a beastly people with beastly religion”.
At a time when even Captain Middle America athletes like Drew Brees can recognize their mistakes, and understand that their silence, or outright criticism of the civil rights movement happening right now is a mistake, boxing has Tyson Fury. Hell, even NASCAR, the least diverse sport in the world has rallied around its only driver of colour during this time, to the ire of many fans I might add.
And yet here we have a man who feels comfortable imitating and appropriating Apollo Creed’s famous entrance to “Living in America”, a song by civil rights icon James Brown.
A man who has no shame coming out in full Mexican attire. The same person who recently stated “to me, colour doesn’t exist”.
And that’s the problem. Tyson Fury needs to see colour. He needs to see that there is a movement going on, and as a white athlete he can lend his voice to his fellow Black athlete’s struggle.
Tyson Fury also recently said “if it had been me who said it, ‘Don’t shop in any Black-owned stores or any Asian owned stores’ or anything, or don’t buy from their businesses,’ then I’d have been crucified like Jesus Christ. I’ll just say that.”
Like many people, he doesn’t get it. If that was the end of it, maybe it wouldn’t be such a big deal. There are many white athletes who “don’t get it”. But Fury has a history of racism, misogyny and homophobia, which makes it seem like it is just a matter of time before he embarrasses himself and boxing once again, and the longer people rally around him, the greater the damage will be.
Shut up, bitch.