Tyson Fury attacked for 'foul homophobia' by LGBT rights campaigner

The 6ft 9ins Manchester-born boxer who beat Wladimir Klitschko in Germany is notorious for his pronouncements on the LGBT community. He claims that homosexuality is "one of the three things that will lead to the apocalypse."

Shadow cabinet minister Chris Bryant hit back, saying: "I'm not celebrating Tyson Fury's win. His aggressive style of foul homophobia is precisely the kind that leads to young gay suicides."

Fury told the Mail on Sunday: "There are only three things that need to be accomplished before the devil comes home: one of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other one's paedophilia. Who would have thought in the '50s and '60s that those first two would be legalised?"

The New heavyweight boxing champion denied the claims, saying: "I'm not homophobic. I have lots of gay friends."

He told Sky News: "If people don't like it, change the channel."

He is a devout Christian and many of his views come from the Bible which he says "was written a long time ago and if I follow that and it tells me it's wrong, then it's wrong for me."

This isn't the first time Fury has made anti-gay remarks. In 2013 he tweeted about Lennox Lewis, calling him "100% homosexual". He has also said of David Haye: "He ain't a man, he's a fairy." The British Boxing Board of Control fined Fury £3,000 for calling Liverpool fighters David Price and Tony Bellew "gay lovers".

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell condemned Fury, saying: "Tyson is a brilliant boxer but a very bigoted and confused Christian. To equate same-sex love with abortion and paedophilia is deranged and offensive."

The boxer stands to earn up to £5m from his surprise triumph over the Ukrainian, with some pundits predicting his future earnings could stack up to £30m if he successfully defends his title.