Tyson v Joshua - now I'd pay to view that

As a kid I loved boxing. After racing (blame Snow Knight and Red Rum) it was my favourite sport. Muhammad Ali remains my all time greatest sportsman, but I also hero worshipped (in a childlike way obviously) Smokin' Joe Frazier, 'enry Cooper and Ken Norton. I really did listen to (sorry mum) both the Thrilla in Manilla and the Rumble in The Jungle on my Christmas present (thanks mum) transistor radio under the bedcovers at night.
"Oh my God he's won it back at 32" by Harry Carpenter means more to me than even "they think it's all over.. it is now"
As I got older I still paid attention to boxing - Joe Bugner, Alan Minter, Marvellous Marvin Hagler, Dave 'Boy' Green and even dear old Richard Dunn.
I confess that I abused my position as a police officer on night shift to watch Frank Bruno's fight with demolition by Mike Tyson in the earliest days of satellite TV in an electrical showroom in Crawley.
The most brutal fight I ever saw - Brighton's Chris Eubank v Michael Watson - remains etched in my memory. I even got Chris to sign a poster for one of his fights (I don't think it was that one) and it was raffled in the Hove Police Station Christmas Draw (earning much less money than it should have as I recall.)
After that my attention turned away from pugilism to cricket.  Boxing - always a bit dodgy - became ever more ridiculous. Whereas there were once just 7 world champions, we soon had over a 100. Trash talk was the norm, and at times it aped WWE. Even Herbie Hyde was a, sort of, world champ for goodness sake.
But over the last couple of years I have sensed a change. The world titles are being consolidated and I notice that my boys and their friends prefer proper boxing to the ridiculous cage fighting, kick box, all in wrestling nonsense that they used to look at. So much so that my satellite telly bill was £15 heavier this weekend for having funded pay-for-view access to Saturday's world heavyweight fight between Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko.
Klitschko has been underrated, probably because he comes from Ukraine, is white and has fought in something less than a golden era.
I fully expected him to trounce Fury in a repeat of the Ali-Richard Dunn fight humane slaughter. Of course we now know that Fury won - outboxing an unmotivated and getting on a bit (he's 39 - see earlier Ali point) Klitchsko.
Fury is a tricky chap for us liberal, cosmopolitan types to evaluate. He comes from a Gypsy Irish Traveller background so that's good for the diversity check list. He weighed 1lb when born (which is also good I guess). He was christened Tyson (yes after Mike, the most fearsomely hard boxer I have ever seen, but also an ear-biting rapist). Tyson's (Fury's, not Mike's) old man even did some lengthy bird for gouging someones eye out. Tyson (Fury) himself has also had his problems with the law, but instead of going down the bare knuckle unregulated fighting route he embraced the Queensbury rules. He found God, and speaks of Jesus as his saviour in the same way Pakistani cricket captains refer to Allah after a win in a test match. We English liberal types are not comfortable with this, or indeed with the associated comments Fury is reputed to have made on homosexuality.
And yet he celebrated his win by serenading his wife (who he clearly adores) in a way which I found strangely moving, and spoke eloquently about both his background and family.
So for me I cannot make my mind up about Tyson Fury. I suspect he is not a great boxer and got a bit lucky in terms of the timing for his fight with Klitschko (a latter day version of Leon Spinks). But fair play to him he did it, no one can ever take it away from him, and actually it is great to read a by and large positive news story emanating from the Traveller community.
Today the BBC bottled it (surprise, surprise) on their nominations for Sports Personality of the Year. They should have dropped one of their original nominees (even as a sports nut I had never heard of 3 of them) but instead they added Tyson Fury on as a late runner (together with Andy Murray).
Boxing, in spite of the difficulties I have described, still has a good following and Tyson Fury (whatever your views on him) is certainly a personality. The boxing and Traveller community could get their act together and mount a massive 'get out the vote' (I could help guys - or put you in touch with Lynton) campaign for Tyson. I'm pretty sure the BBC bigwigs hope he does not win so that in itself is a good reason to support him in (and please whatever happens do not let it be Lewis Hamilton again).
As for the future of boxing, I suspect Tyson could win his contracted rematch with Klitschko. The other world champ - the American Deontay Wilder - is not exactly an all-time great either. 
Therefore how about an all-British fight to unify the heavyweight world (and British, and European, and Commonwealth ) championships at Wembley Statdium in late 2016? Tyson Fury v Anthony Joshua. I'd certainly pay to view - and I'd back Joshua to win by a knock-out.