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In the early hours of Sunday morning, Tyson Fury emerged triumphant in Las Vegas from his rematch with Deontay Wilder. The sporting victory was remarkable enough. For a man to have undergone

the sort of transformations that Fury has, both mentally and physically, is like some sporting fantasy. But for that man’s victory to be so universally acclaimed by a public who had, until

not all that long ago, very openly vilified him is all the more remarkable. However, the reasons for that mass change of heart are a lot less romantic than one might hope. Fury first emerged

into the consciousness of the wider public as much through sheer force of personality than sporting prowess. On the one hand, he was a joker who would turn up to press conferences dressed

as a superhero. On the other, he was the man who held highly conservative religious views on homosexuality. He floated the idea that the UK should spend more money on the homeless than on

migrants and even spoke in favour of Britain leaving the EU prior to the 2016 referendum — a dangerous play for even a celebrity as fearsome as a heavyweight boxer. Everything was compounded

by the fact that, no matter what he said or did, his Irish gypsy heritage would make him a target in the UK in a way other ethnic minorities simply wouldn’t be. When he was nominated for

the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in 2015, angry petitions were signed and the corporation received 140,000 complaints. Naturally, he didn’t stand a chance. After that, despite

defeating the previously dominant Wladimir Klitschko to be crowned unified heavyweight world champion in 2015, he was later stripped of his belts. The reasons included testing positive for

nandrolone and later for cocaine. He was also stripped of his boxing licence by the British Boxing Board of Control after being declared medically unfit to fight. In 2016, he had to

apologise for anti-Semitic comments. Fury’s subsequent spiral into mental ill-health have been well documented. He faced a battle with his weight, depression and suicidal tendencies. His

image has undergone a deep steam clean. In the modern world, there is plenty of forgiveness available to those who have experienced the anguish of a damaging mental health episode. It is, in

many ways, penance for the 21st century: one suffers for one’s past sins through depression, only to come out the other side reborn. Redemption is also appropriate given Fury’s

Christianity. When he mentions God now, it is not as a divine judge, but as a guide through the wilderness of mental illness, and as someone to thank after success. No longer do people look

upon his religion as a cause for alarm. Instead, by tying his faith to a struggle with mental illness, they are more prepared to see what went before through the prism of a depressed mind.

He is a religious nut no more — instead, his faith is part of a redemption story. One also cannot ignore the role played, in a small way, by his younger brother Tommy — a boxer and former

Love Island contestant. Where Tyson is large, gnarly and comes with baggage, Tommy brought a new dynamic to the Fury family’s public face. He is irritatingly handsome, innocent and sincere,

albeit still with the frame of a man who uses his fists for a living. The way he has worked his way into the public sphere has been in contrast to his elder brother. Tyson also kept his

mouth largely shut during his brother’s 15 minutes of fame, which did him no harm. In truth, we shouldn’t look beyond the clinching reason why Tyson Fury has shot back to the top in the

popularity stakes: he is a winner. Society has a habit of forgiving those who bring glitz and glamour into the every day. Plenty of sporting heroes in the past have had their missteps

glossed over the second they became triumphant. It is why whitewashing in sport has become so mainstream. History, after all, is written by those who win, and legions of journalists and

fans, whatever they may have thought of him before, are now recording the fact that Tyson Fury is a champion. And, for as long as that is the case, they will love him for it. Glory, after

all, is only ever tainted for those on the losing side — and when you get the choice of which side to be on, it’s a bold man who chooses that one.