Fury makes apology as Murray lifts BBC award (Reuters)

(Reuters) – Tyson Fury, the boxer at the center of controversy over comments about women and homosexuals, made an apology at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards in Belfast on Sunday. Before tennis champion Andy Murray collected the prestigious award, an audience of 7,500 at the SSE arena applauded after world heavyweight champion Fury, 27, one of the 10 short-listed contenders, told them his remarks had been tongue-in-cheek. Fury, whose homophobic and sexist comments had led to more than 130,000 people signing a petition calling for the BBC to remove him from its shortlist, told the crowd, featuring many of Britain’s greatest sportsmen and women: “I’ve said a lot of stuff in the past, none of it with intentions to hurt anybody.