Wilder needs me more ‘I am the draw’ claims former champ Tyson
TYSON FURY said he did not go chasing Deontay Wilder as he revealed the WBC heavyweight champion came calling to fight a “legend”.
Fury, the former WBA, WBO and IBF title-holder is set to face the American in a blockbuster battle in November if he beats Germanbased Italian Francesco Pianeta here at Windsor Park tonight.
But he insists he did not go begging for the big-money match-up as he told Wilder that he is the one making it a cash-laden clash in Las Vegas later this year.
Fury will earn in excess of £10million with Wilder banking even more for the fight that will be pay-per-view on both sides of the Atlantic.
“I’m not fighting him, he’s fighting me,” said the unbeaten Fury, who beat Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 to take the crown as the lineal champion.
“It is his chance, his chance to fight for a lineal title. This isn’t me having a chance to fight him for a belt, this is his chance to fight a legend of the game.
“Make no mistake, Wilder is not a pay-per-view fighter in his home country. He has never ever done a pay-per-view fight.
“I am the draw on this side of the fight, without me he goes back to fighting some bum for a million dollars. If I beat Deontay Wilder in America, what have I done, beat another boxer? What am I gaining? But if he beats me, he gains the lineal status in the heavyweight division and it will continue on. He needs me more than I need him.”
Fury and Wilder clashed after yesterday’s weigh-in at the Europa Hotel in Belfast and exchanged verbal insults.
But the self-proclaimed ‘Gypsy King’ believes another clash between the pair laid the foundations for their November fight.
Just after Fury had beaten Klitschko to rule the division, he went to New York to watch Wilder take on Artur Szpilka in January 2016. He said: “It wasn’t a set-up job, when I went over to New York they wouldn’t even let me in the building, I barged my way right through.
“I said, ‘The first man touches me gets their jaw broke’. As soon as the fight was done I was in the ring. I was on him.
“I was advised by (former promoter) Mick Hennessey and (uncle and former trainer) Peter not to go to America, as that was giving him relevance. But I said I’m trying to make a multi-milliondollar fight. I know how to promote boxing. I paid for my own ticket, my own hotel. It was all paid for by me setting this up years ago. It is written in the stars I will knock him spark out.” The fight never happened then as Fury was contractually obliged to face Klitschko in a rematch – and neither did that because the British heavyweight failed a drugs test for cocaine. Fury then had a long legal battle with UK Anti-Doping over another failed test amid mental health problems that saw him balloon in weight. But he does not believe reaching the pinnacle of the division again will fulfil him. Fury said: “All the belts will just add to the collection I have. “Like Mike Tyson said, as a kid these belts are of some use and you think they’re something but when you’ve actually got them, you realise they are just a bit of metal with some leather welded on. “What inspires me is looking in the mirror every morning and seeing myself in shape.” He is fighting tonight on the undercard as headliner Carl Frampton insists the pressure of his dream night at Windsor Park will ensure he does not slip up against Australian underdog Luke Jackson.
The Belfast hero, left, takes on Jackson with the interim WBO featherweight title on the line in front of 25,000 fans.
“I have always been involved in high-pressure situations, there has always been expectations on me,” said Frampton. “I take it in my stride.”