FURY MAKING BOXING GREAT AGAIN
After Trump moved out of Vegas, Tyson moved in and his demolition of Wilder has put ‘the king of boxing back on his throne’
DONALD TRUMP was in town this week, campaigning for the presidential election.
He jetted back to Washington on Friday and missed another maverick, outspoken outsider take over the establishment.
Tyson Fury is boxing’s Trump and he has made boxing great again.
“The king has returned to the top of his throne,” he roared from the ring after destroying the supposedlyunbeatable Deontay Wilder to take his WBC heavyweight crown.
His place in the boxing record books is secure and the two-time world champion is the only British fighter to win all four major heavyweight titles.
He draped a second Ring Magazine belt over the green WBC one on his shoulder and five years after dethroning Wladimir Klitschko, is back on top of the world. Such an achievement seemed unimaginable four years ago, when he doubted if he wanted to carry on living, let alone box again, as he battled depression.
Yet Fury is back after producing a devastating display to rank alongside any by a British fighter abroad.
This compares with Ken Buchanan beating Ismael Laguna, John H Stracey and Jose Napoles, Lloyd Honeyghan and Don Curry, not forgetting his own win over Klitschko.
Before anyone tries to diminish Fury’s feat by running down Wilder, look again at his record.
Wilder was unbeaten and 41 of his 42 victories had come inside the distance. He had not been floored for 12 years, let alone beaten.
Fury, 31, delivered on his bold game plan to take the fight to Wilder and battered the hardest-hitting heavyweight in boxing into submission. In front of a sell-out crowd of 15,816 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, which generated record receipts of £13.05million for a heavyweight fight in Nevada, it was embarrassingly one-sided and Fury put Wilder down twice as he biffed him about the ring.
So much for Wilder’s taunt that Fury had “pillow fists”.
Fury, who celebrated by singing Don Mclean’s ‘American Pie’ in the ring, said: “I came here and they said I can’t punch. Deontay Wilder said I have two pillow fists, so not bad for an old fat guy, who can’t punch!
“I’m supposed to be an old feather
duster who couldn’t crack eggs! I’m 6ft 9ins and have 21 knockouts from my 30 wins. Not bad considering I’ve never gone looking for knockouts in my career. I’ve used my boxing skills.
“With this technique, we can knock out anybody. When I jumped on the scales and weighed over 270lbs, everyone thought I hadn’t come for a fight, that I’d underestimated Wilder. Tonight, in there, I felt like a beast.”
Fury attacked from the first bell and the decisive moment came in the third round when he floored Wilder with a left and then a right hook, which exploded on his left ear, causing it to bleed.
Like the Bismarck when it was disabled by torpedo bombers before it was sunk in 1941, Wilder was holed below the waterline.
Exhausted, he staggered about the ring like a drunk as Fury hit him almost at will, putting him down again in the fifth with a left hook to the head, and then another to the body. Assistant trainer Mark Breland threw in the towel in the seventh, as Fury pummelled him in a corner, and referee Kenny Bayless waved it off one minute and 39 seconds into the round. Lennox Lewis, the last fighter to be crowned the world’s undisputed heavyweight champion, watched from ringside with Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, and he was hugely impressed.
“The best fighters solve puzzles and Tyson Fury solved the Wilder puzzle by making him fight going backwards where he’s not as explosive,” he said. “Big-manned him.”
As brilliant as Fury was, he insists he can be even better, given more time with trainer Sugarhill Steward.
“I’m my own worst critic,” he said. “Even though it was a fantastic performance, I know I can do better. I’ve only just started with this style. It takes years to perfect a style, but I’m a quick learner, don’t forget.”
No one is likely to forget that after witnessing this devastating display.