Before the opening bell, those who claimed to have insider knowledge had already dismissed him. They believed Tyson Fury was not a serious contender and certainly not someone who could pose a threat to the legendary Wladimir Klitschko. However, Fury proved them all wrong when he defeated Klitschko, who had been dominating the heavyweight division for years, and claimed his numerous world titles. This unexpected outcome shattered the illusions of those who thought they were "in the know." The Fury-Klitschko fight may have been boring, even very boring, but it revealed two important truths in 2015: Klitschko struggled against opponents of similar size and Fury, the cheerful clown from Great Britain, was a force to be reckoned with inside the ring.

Indeed, as time has moved on, the public has learned that Fury isn’t a joke outside the ring, either. Oh, the guy has his moments, obviously, but Fury’s actually a family man who has had his share of issues. Food. Booze. Drugs. Mental Illness. The journey of Tyson Fury hasn’t been an easy one. With that being said, Fury is, almost a decade after his upset over Klitschko, a two time world heavyweight titlist. Such things – pardon the pun – carry weight. And when a man of Fury’s – again, pardon the pun – stature is dropped and given a real run by a boxing novice, as Fury recently was against MMA great Francis Ngannou, people are going to rightly be disappointed.

Of course Fury has the chance to redeem himself when he battles Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world this February. Usyk is a top notch competitor, however, a fact evidenced by his two fight dominance of Fury’s fellow Englishman Anthony Joshua. The truth is that the Tyson Fury Show is full of surprises. One literally never knows what to expect. Whether he’s being dropped by a much smaller man in Steve Cunningham, being stripped of his world titles, performing brilliantly against Deontay Wilder, going up and down in weight or even discussing his own future, one never knows what Fury is going to bring to the table one minute to the next. One wonders if Fury himself knows.