Rather be here getting hit in the face by the hardest-punching heavyweight of all time
FURY PUMPED UP AND OBSESSED WITH MAKING HISTORY
“My heart and my gut just swings to Wilder’s punching power. I think that knockout shot will land on Fury.”
“For me it’s either Tyson by a landslide on points or Wilder by a knock-out. Because of Tyson’s heart, Tyson’s chin and Tyson’s ability, my money goes on him.”
“Wilder’s not just a big guy with a right hand, he’s also become more calculated in his approach. That’s why I’m picking him.”
FURY
“There’s no doubt in my mind that Tyson will get the job done Saturday.”
FURY
“That Deontay Wilder can relly punch. Oh, he can hit, and he can hit hard. It’s not going to be easy for Fury to avoid Wilder’s big right-hand. But I pick Tyson Fury to win on points.”
“Deontay Wilder will knock out Tyson Fury in the seventh or eighth round if he does what I know he can do.”
FURY have to side with Fury. I like his bi“I boxing b i ability and what he can do in the ring as a big man, moving, jabbing, combinations. I just hope it’s a great fight again.”
WILDER
“I like Deontay Wilder to win, possibly by knockout. I think that Wilder is always in shape and that he will use his speed and power to get the job done.”
WILDER
“Never bet against a puncher, particularly one like Deontay Wilder. I see Wilder winning by a 10th-round knockout.”
WILDER “Deontay Wilder can box and win. I believe it will go to a decision again, but with Deontay Wilder winning it.”
WILDER
“Tyson Fury is talking absolute nonsense that he’s going to come out and knock out Deontay Wilder in the first two rounds, that he’s going to stand and trade. If he does that, he gets chinned early.”
EVER the showman, Tyson Fury was typically colourful as he summed up his desire for his date with destiny against Deontay Wilder.
Fury is so pumped he claims he would rather be punched in the face by the hardest-hitting man on the planet than have a Caribbean holiday with eight strippers, £10million and tons of booze.
“This is my time in the stars, time in the sun, five minutes of fame, whatever you want to call it,” he said.
“This is what I live to do. I’ve lived and breathed this since I was 14 and I couldn’t think of being in any better place in the world.
“Even if you gave me £10million to spend and sent me to the Bahamas with eight strippers and a load of alcohol, it would be no good to me because I’d rather be here getting punched in the face by Wilder. That’s what turns me on.”
He is driven by the chance to become the first British fighter to win all four major heavyweight crowns and complete his collection of titles if he can dethrone WBC champ Wilder.
“After I beat Wilder I will have achieved everything and won every single belt there is – English, Irish, British, Commonwealth, European, a whole lot of international and intercontinental belts, every single world title belt and two Ring Magazine belts,” he said.
“The only belt I didn’t win, which I’m pretty p **** d about, is the Central Area title. I think it’s vacant. I’ll have completed the game. When you get a computer game and you complete it, you get to the end, it’s all easy then. On Saturday night I will complete the toughest sport in the world. Finished it.”
The legendary Manny Steward helped Fury on his remarkable journey by inviting him over to his fabled Kronk gym in 2010, two years before he died.
The 31-year-old has tried to sprinkle some Kronk magic dust on his camp by bringing Steward’s nephew, SugarHill Steward and former pupil Andy Lee on board for this fight. “Manny would think this is great,” he said. “He said I would be world champion over 10 years ago.
“Now to win another world title with SugarHill, I know he would be smiling at that. All the boys back together. Me, SugarHill and Andy. Up to the old antics, less whisky.”
Yet Fury has taken a huge gamble by making such sweeping changes to his team. There has been persistent talk of problems in camp and with sparring, which Fury has consistently denied.
Yet there are still unanswered questions about Fury’s mental well-being, and his mood can change during the course of one 30-minute interview, let alone one week.
His switch in tactics to go for the knock-out against a destructive heavyweight ranks somewhere between the risky and the suicidal.
He intends to be a stone heavier than he was for the first fight to suit his bold game-plan. But while bulking up may boost his power and punch resistance, it also blunts his principal weapons of speed and movement.
Then there is the cut he suffered over his right eye against Otto Wallin, which required 47 stitches, and Fury admits it could re-open.
Steward also concedes
Fury is not “100 per cent” fit, backing up claims he has been injured in camp.
“Nobody comes into a fight 100 per cent,” he said. “Every fighter has some kind of injury, some kind of nick, and that’s just the truth. But they get on with it.”
With so many question marks against Fury, logic dictates that the human wrecking ball that is Wilder will stop him. This time there will be no miraculous rise from the canvas in the 12th round to beat the count.
But when did logic ever apply to Tyson Fury?
Don’t forget he supposedly had no chance against Wladimir Klitschko and Wilder. So don’t be surprised if he does what many here think is improbable and beats the unbeatable Wilder to rule the world once again.
Then he can head to the Bahamas.