With a name like his, Tyson Fury was not destined to be a shy and retiring wallflower.

Since becoming world heavyweight champion, the 27-year-old British boxer has been living up to his name, provoking fury well beyond the ring with his pronouncements on homosexuality, women, fellow athletes and a range of other topics.

One of sport's biggest upsets, Fury's victory last month over long-standing world champion Wladimir Klitschko has earned him a spot on the shortlist for the BBC's prestigious Sports Personality of the Year award.

But along with recognition of his sporting achievement, the man who calls himself the "Gypsy King" to honour his Irish traveller heritage has also gained much wider exposure for his controversial views since his overnight rise to global fame.

An online petition calling on the BBC to deselect him because of comments widely seen as homophobic has now gathered close to 100,000 signatures.

And how Fury has provoked a reaction out of British former boxing world champion Lennox Lewis after calling him a 'jealous old man' and a 'has-been' in an interview with YouTube channel MMAFightingonSBN.

Lewis posted a reply to Fury's comments on his Facebook page yesterday in which he denied having any cause for jealousy over Fury's recent success and expressed his surprise at the comments having had dinner with Fury the night before his fight with Klitschko.

"I just heard Tyson Fury calling me out again because I apparently "hate him and am jealous of him"," read Lewis's post.

"Neither are true and just when I thought we squashed anything between us, I hear his interview.

"It seems to me that Tyson Fury has a lot to say, except when he's in my face. I had dinner with him the night before his win over Klitschko and it was all very cordial and the next day he even apologised for the things he's said.

"I thought we were good so you can imagine my surprise to hear this interview today. I'm honestly not sure if he's got two personalities or what.

"Nonetheless, he's done nothing for me to be jealous of nor do I hate him. I'm actually starting to think its the other way around. In my prime, I didn't call out retired champions. In my era, we respected them. Ali is my idol. If he picked Holyfield or Tyson to beat me, he would still be my idol.

"With the exception of Bowe, I've gotten along well, and shown plenty of love and respect, to all of my opponents, as well as the champions before me. This is how it's done.

"For a man that has battled and fought very hard to get the respect he deserves, it's seems to me that he missed the most important lesson... that it's a two way street."