What’s going on with that Tyson Fury poster design?

Boxing fans were disappointed with a new poster that recently dropped promoting the upcoming fight between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou. The rather uninspired art has been torn apart on social media for its uncharacteristically flattering depiction of Fury, accusing the image of being the work of AI. 

While there is no proof to suggest that the poster is in fact AI-generated, it certainly has the characteristics of many AI images that we've seen, with its muscular interpretation of Fury clearly causing conflict among the boxing community. If you're interested in creating your own AI art, this collection of the best AI art generators could help to produce results that are a little less uncanny.

Taking to Twitter (sorry, X), Michael Benson released the promotional poster for the fight, aiming to build some hype amongst fans. Instead, the release was met with a multitude of confused and comical responses that questioned the poster's rather basic artistic style and oddly favourable depiction of Fury. 

Some fans have said that the poster looks more like a promo for a retro video game reboot, with Fury's rippling pectorals resembling Street Fighter's Ryu, rather than reality. Others have outright denounced the poster, saying that the style is too juvenile and "Literally looks like a kid on YouTube made it for a video thumbnail." Ouch. 

While some enjoyed the Street Fighter resemblance, it's clear that the depiction of Fury has certainly, er, skimmed some anatomical details. "This is belly erasure", one distraught commenter said, with another chiming in, "In what world does Fury look like that". Some users have even gone so far as to claim that the poster is fake, with one simply responding: "AI generated".

The criticism for the poster has been a little severe to say the least, but there's plenty of time to revise the design, with the fight due to take place on October 28th. While sporting promotional posters always aim to capture an athlete's best angles, I think this one may have fallen a little far into the realm of fantasy. 

Believe it or not, this isn't the first Street Fighter-inspired design we've seen this month – The AA recently dropped a delightfully retro campaign based on the video game series.