Usyk, Fury, and Romanis: what do they have in common?

Did you watch this epic fight: Usyk versus Fury? Or are you just aware of the result (the Ukrainian won)? Is it «No» to all three questions? Does not matter. After all, what we are going to discuss is the Romani trace in this standoff—which BOTH athletes have. 

If we ask our imagination to picture a Romani, what kind of an image will it produce? A huge bloke with a moustache, a guitar, and a horse? Well that would be pretty stereotypic, will it not? And what if we state that a Romani is over 2m tall, has thirty-four professional victories behind him, and has been recently crowned as a champion? Or, let us take have another take: a Romani who writes songs which resound as a world heavyweight boxing champion is getting onto a boxing ring. Both of these images refer to real people—and both of these images will be discussed here today. 

FURY’S ROMANI STORY

Tyson Fury. Why would he be of interest to us? Due to his background. The athlete was born in the family of Irish Romani also referred to as Irish Travellers. The boxer is quite open about his background (something we are thankful to him for). He used to say: «I was born in a Romani family and I am always going to be a Romani, so I have never been regarded as someone who belonged in Great Britain». That was a phrase that attracted a lot of hate—which was rather bizarre as, after all, who had ever perceived the Romani people as an integral part of their community?  Besides, the athlete used to have expressed a number of controversial and intolerant opinions worthy of cancel culture. Admitting to one’s ethnic origin has never been one, though. 

What is it then in Tyson Fury’s personality that can be associated with the Romanis? That would be a rhetorical question. After all, are there any criteria that might be used to define Romani-sh-ness or Irishness? (The Nazis once tried to put something like that in place. Remember how it all ended? So let us try to do without racial standards)  

Tyson Fury’s father, John, used to have a nickname: Gypsy. And the boxer himself was referred to as The Gypsy by his current rival, Oleksandr Usyk (we refer here to the interview dated 2022). And so, such outdated, intolerant, and discriminative terms are still being encountered in written reports covering the sports activity of this athlete—take, for instance, Fury’s nickname: Gypsy King. Let us remind that the only correct designations for the representatives of this ethnicity are: Romanis and Roma people. 

USYK AND THE ROMA PEOPLE

Now let us get to Oleksandr Usyk, our champion. We are not going to cover his personality and his utterances her. We shall instead talk about the powerful song which resounds as he gets onto the boxing ring: Brethren. 

The song is authored by Vasyl Zhadan. And he (oh, yes indeed!) is a Romani from Sumy Province. The artist is popularising the Romani culture and standing for the rights of his community. At the same time, posts with his performances (including performances on Voice Ukraine) on YouTube have disrespectful comments like "Oof, a Gypsy...". Mass media also descend to the ‘gypsyfication’. What is quite empowering, however, is the fact that plenty of users do indeed focus on the top quality vocal performance and the depth of his texts and not on ethnicity. 

One might wonder, how many of Usyk’s fans actually know that he has chosen a Romani music track as a background for his action? And what is their attitude to the Romani culture, by and large? After all, Romanis are hardly visible in the modern-day information and cultural space. Whereas the image that is being painted by the mass pop culture is all but a stereotype and prejudice. 

So, why this text at all? Oh but do look around! There are more Romanis than you think. And they are not the way you think they are. Be they boxers or artists, militarymen or volunteers, physicians or lawyers—Romanis are represented in each and every realm of our life. They are involved in each and every important social process. It is just that society is not always aware of this. Or does it just not want to be aware?