Wladimir Klitschko has compared Tyson Fury’s views to those of Adolf Hitler and has said Britain’s world heavyweight should be banned from boxing.
Fury, 27, stirred outrage for posting an hour-long YouTube video which contained homophobic, sexist and anti-Semitic comments in May. In the clip, he claimed “Zionist, Jewish people ... own all the banks, all the papers, all the TV stations”.
The comments led to widespread calls for him to be banned from boxing and the Campaign Against Antisemitism demanded Fury be forced out for his “offensive and racist remarks” and made a complaint to the British Boxing Board of Control.
Fury subsequently apologised for his comments and said: “I am in no way a racist or bigot.”
Ex-champion Klitschko, who fights Fury in Manchester on 9 July in a rematch has expressed shock at the undefeated boxer’s statements.
“I was in shock at his statements about women, the gay community, and when he got to the Jewish people he sounded like Hitler,” the 40-year-old Ukranian boxer said.
“The man is an imbecile. Seriously. You cannot put it all together as a representation of the sport of boxing. He’s an imbecile champion.”
“In this crazy world when we can see all that’s going on, we don’t need someone having this stage and bringing hate to Jewish people, I can’t accept,” Klitschko added. “As I said, he sounds like Hitler, I cannot accept it and I don’t accept. We cannot have a champion like that.”
Klitschko lost to Fury in November, suffering his first defeat in 11 years.
Fury has been accused of sexism and homophobia in the past and was criticised after his victory over Klitschko last year, when remarks on homosexuality, women, and paedophilia prompted more than 100,000 people to sign an online petition calling for him to be removed from the BBC's 2015 Sports Personality of the Year shortlist.
A representative for Fury did not immediately respond to request for comment.
