COMING TO AMERICA
Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder unleashed
THE last time that I was on the USS Intrepid prior to the October 2 press conference for the upcoming fight between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury, I saw a man beaten to death. His name was Beethaeven Scottland. He died because of the nature of the sport he was involved with and because a referee let a fight go on too long and the ring doctor assigned to his corner was less than vigilant.
That night – June 26, 2001 – began as a festive occasion. Duva Boxing was promoting the first professional fight card ever held on the flight deck of the Intrepid, a decomissioned 900-foot aircraft carrier. Arriving fans were greeted by roundcard girls styled as World War II pin-ups. There were panoramic views wherever one turned. The towering skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan to the east; the George Washington Bridge to the north; the Hudson River and New Jersey Palisades to the west. And to the south, the World Trade Center.
Red, white, and blue ring ropes cordoned off the red, white, and blue ring canvas. Everything sparkled. The sky was a perfect, almost surreal, backdrop for the fighters. Aquamarine at first, then dark with just enough haze to resemble a black velvet curtain.
George Khalid Jones faced off against Scottland in next-to-last fight of the evening. In the 10th and final round, tragedy struck.
Seventeen years later, most athletic commissions in the United States still have substandard medical protocols. And even these are poorly enforced. It’s all too easy to connect the dots from Beethaevan Scottland to Magomed Abdusalamov to the sham testing for performance enhancing drugs that plague boxing today.
As I made my way toward the Wilderfury press conference on October 2, there were reminders of that long-ago night on the Intrepid. Several flights of long winding stairs led from street level to the flight deck. The stairs and a tiny elevator were the only routes available for the medical team that brought Scottland from the ring to the hospital in a futile struggle to save his life. One end of the gurney that he was strapped to had to be lifted up and held at a sharp incline to fit it into the elevator. Now, instead of a boxing ring, there was stage on the flight deck. Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury were the centre of attention, not Scottland and Jones.
At a press conference in London one day earlier, Steven Espinoza (president of Showtime Sports, which will distribute the fight on pay-per-view) said of Wilder and Fury, “We have two mythical figures. They are almost superheroes.” After Espinoza’s remarks, the two mythical figures got into a shoving match when Fury questioned Wilder’s punching power and suggested that they “have a little spar.”
On the flight deck of the Intrepid, Fury called Wilder “a skinny runt” and declared, “I’m gonna beat this bum because he can’t box.” Wilder proclaimed, “He knows his face is gonna get smashed in,” and simulated
SCOTLAND DIED BECAUSE OF THE NATURE OF THE SPORT HE WAS INVOLVED WITH
masturbation for the viewing audience. On several occasions, the two men stood nose to nose. They also shouted and said “f**k” a lot. Fury seemed a bit mad at times while Wilder looked genuinely angry.
Neither fighter is strong on impulse control. CRAZY will be a major selling point for the fight.
In truth, it’s an intriguing match-up. Fury has skills. But in recent years, he has abused his body with heavy drinking, drug abuse, and rampant obesity. Regardless of what happens in the early rounds, Tyson can be expected to tire late. And when that happens, he’s likely to get hit flush.
Fifteen years have passed since the Staples Center in Los Angeles hosted Lennox Lewis vs. Vitali Klitschko, the last big heavyweight championship fight in the City of Angels. Wilder and Fury will meet in the same venue. As they ranted on October 2, it was hard to not contrast their demeanor with that of Lewis and Klitschko.
As Jerry Izenberg (the dean of American sportswriters) recently opined, “This isn’t how sportsmen are supposed to act. It isn’t boxing; it’s burlesque.”
Maybe. But it reflects what’s happening now in our society. People were appalled when Mike Tyson bit Lennox Lewis on the leg at a 2002 press conference. If that happened today, it would be treated as a marketing tool.
The USS Intrepid symbolises the defence of traditional American values. It set out to sea for the first time in 1943 and saw extensive action during World War II. Later, it was at the heart of other military missions and served as a NASA recovery vehicle for the Mercury and Gemini space capsules.
So much has changed since then and since the last time I was on the flight deck of the Intrepid.
9/11… The election of Barack Obama… The rise of Donald Trump.
The Manhattan skyline looks different when viewed now from the Intrepid than it did 17 years ago. Massive building projects have reshaped its contours to the north and east. And to the south, the Twin Towers are gone.