Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Fury ready to ‘do his job’ now
TYSON Fury is unconcerned about the apparently chaotic build-up to the first defence of his WBC heavyweight title as opponent Deontay Wilder promised “redemption, retaliation, retribution” in Las Vegas tonight.
Fury is an overwhelming favourite to have his hand raised, as he did 20 months ago when confounding many observers with aggressive tactics to give a bloodied and broken Wilder the first defeat of his professional career.
Wilder made several peculiar excuses in the aftermath, from the weight of his ring walk costume to a completely unfounded accusation that Fury had loaded gloves, and sacked trainer Mark Breland, replacing him with Malik Scott.
But his appeal for Fury to honour his contractual obligation for a third fight found favour with a United States arbitrator, scuppering the Briton’s hopes of a much-anticipated domestic showdown with Anthony Joshua this summer. A July date was put back after Fury contracted Covid-19, while the 33-year-old delayed his latest training camp to be with wife Paris as she gave birth to daughter Athena, who then had a number of days in intensive care.
Fury stepped up his preparations for Wilder last month after revealing his sixth child was at full health and is now fully focused on extending his unbeaten professional record at the T-Mobile Arena.
“All these fights are exactly the same to me: I’ve got some guy trying to take my head off with punches, no matter whether it is Deontay Wilder or whoever it may be,” Fury said.
“It doesn’t really matter to me because it’s a Tyson Fury roadshow which has been continuing for 13 years. I train every day, twice a day mostly, I eat, sleep, train, repeat.
“I’ve had a few personal problems at home, but there’s always going to be some type of problem or hurdle to get over in life. I had a little baby girl who was born seven and a half weeks ago and she was very unwell for a minute or two and I was there for two weeks in hospital with her.
“I knew that if I got that hurdle out the way, things would be good and I could concentrate on the fight. That’s exactly what I did. The baby is 100 per cent at home, the family’s good so daddy’s just got to do his job now.”
Tension between the combatants has been steadily building in recent months and erupted in Wednesday’s final press conference, leading to a slanging match and the cancellation of the normal practice of a face-toface staredown.
Fury’s co-promoter Bob Arum insisted there would be no head-tohead at the weigh-in either, saying: “I will not have these fighters being treated like they are fighting dogs or fighting cocks. The fighters will not face off, both (sides) agree.”
For his part, Wilder said: “I have nothing to prove, I’m in a great place, and state of mind. This is redemption, retaliation, retribution.”