FURY OVERCOMES BLOODY CUT
To win in a heavyweight division match against Otto Wallin and reclaim the title
Las Vegas — Blood was flowing down Tyson Fury’s right cheek, and Otto Wallin was in his face. His scheduled rematch with Deontay Wilder suddenly in jeopardy, Fury needed to dig deep in a fight that wasn’t supposed to be this hard.
Fury did just that Saturday night, overcoming a bloody cut over his right eye to pound out a unanimous decision over his Swedish opponent and set up a lucrative heavyweight rematch with Deontay Wilder.
Fury remained unbeaten in 29 fights and retained his claim to the lineal heavyweight title against a fighter who was little known but gave the big Englishman all he could handle.
“I couldn’t see out of my eye,” Fury said. “I got cut over my eye and it changed the fight completely.”
With blood streaming down his face, Fury dominated from the middle rounds on in what was supposed to be little more than a tune up fight for his scheduled February rematch with Wilder. He was a 30-1 favorite at fight time, but after being cut in the third round had to reach deep to pull out the win.
The three ringside judges had Fury winning by scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112. The Associated Press had Fury winning 116-112.
“It’s all heart and determination,” Fury said. “If I can keep going, I keep going. Otto is a great Swede, a Viking warrior.”
The fight drew a crowd of 8,249 to the Las Vegas Strip, many of them British fans who want to see Fury reclaim his place on top of the heavyweight division.
Fury beat Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 to win the heavyweight titles, but was stripped of them after battling mental and drug abuse problems and not fighting for more than two years.