Wilder’s raw power could be the decider in LA showdown
THIS is as close as Lennox Lewis can come to predicting the outcome of tonight’s (early tomorrow morning SA time) clash of the giants: “Deontay Wilder if it ends early, Tyson Fury if it goes the distance.”
“If Fury can frustrate Wilder the way he did Wladimir Klitschko, he can get the decision – even in America,” says the Londoner, who still reigns as the most recent undisputed heavyweight champion, of the eagerly anticipated fight in which Wilder defends his WBC title in Los Angeles.
“But if Deontay catches Tyson anywhere to the head with that huge raw power it will change the fight.
“It should be exciting and explosive because styles make fights.
“Neither of them has faced an opponent like the other before.
“Wilder hasn’t been in with anyone as mobile as Fury, so can he catch him? Tyson won’t find it as easy to avoid Deontay as he did Wladimir because this guy can move and throw.
“Wilder doesn’t have to punch you on the chin or temple to knock you out. When he hits anyone in the world anywhere on the head down they go, concussed.
“How will Fury react? He’s proved he’s a survivor in the past but will he be able to get up again from something this heavy?
“How will Deontay deal with Tyson taking the Mickey in the very serious business of heavyweight boxing? With Fury, it’s ‘catch me if you can’. It’s ‘now you see my face, now you can’t hit it’. Wilder could get too frustrated.” Either way Lewis expects a thriller. He says: “We’ve never seen such huge men in the same ring who are such agile athletes. Their movement is incredible. It’s all a recipe for a great fight.
“And with Tyson making one of the great comebacks after all he’s been through, it’s a part of heavyweight history.
“They’re both winners because when you reach this stage you can only gain as a fighter by boxing the other top men.”
There was another oblique reference to Anthony Joshua as Lewis added: “In the sense of what they gain from this fight, whoever does win will be ahead of the heavyweight game.”
Wilder, meanwhile, is in no doubt that he will retain his WBC belt.
“There is nothing Tyson Fury can say to get inside my head,” he said. “There is nothing Fury can do to prevent me beating him.
“He can call me skinny and he can say I throw punches like a windmill, but that counts for nothing against my experience of knocking out every professional I’ve met.
“He can remember how he evaded and frustrated Klitschko but that cannot take away my belief that I will catch him, nor my confidence in knowing what happens next.”
Fury concedes the first point. “No, I don’t think I’ve messed with his mind and whatever anyone thinks of me I’m not interested in mind games.”
But not the second: “When I want to win as much I do this fight, I cannot lose.”