Wilder will feel Tyson’s full fury warns Warren
DEONTAY WILDER has been warned he will face a different beast when he takes on Tyson Fury in their highly-anticipated rematch next year.
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren believes his man will be much better prepared to face the WBC heavyweight champion next time.
The British star picked himself up off the canvas in the 12th round of a thrilling fight to earn a draw in December, but many observers felt he should have got the nod on the scorecards.
That bout took place just six months and two fights into Fury’s comeback after spending almost three years out of the ring battling a UK Anti-Doping case, depression and addiction.
This time he will have more fights behind him as he follows up his June win over Tom Schwarz with a clash against unbeaten Swede Otto
Wallin at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this weekend.
“He will be in much better shape than first time round,” said Warren.
“That time he was basically training to make the weight rather than training for the fight.
“Anything can happen though, we saw what happened with Anthony Joshua against Andy Ruiz jnr.
“Even when Tyson fought Wladimir Klitschko, he was a big underdog in that fight. He cannot take his eye off the ball at all.
“He needs to stay active so he doesn’t put weight on, mentally he needs to be on the money too.
“He is going to be more dangerous than ever. This is Tyson Fury with 18 months behind him in the gym rather than a six-month crash course.”
Warren has no fears that Wilder will walk away from the agreed rematch, with February 22 the date pencilled in.
There has been talk the American could try to negotiate an undisputed bout with Ruiz, if he upsets Briton Joshua again on December 7 and retains the WBA, IBF and WBO belts.
But Warren is confident Wilder will face Fury in a fight he believes could do “two million buys” on pay-per-view in America, which would generate well over £100m.
Warren said: “I think he will be a man of his word. It is the fight the fans want.
“Tyson against Wilder is going to be huge, there is not a bigger fight than that.”
Fury has a mammoth deal with ESPN – reported to be around £80m – and they have been trying to build his profile to secure more money for the rematch.
Warren claims his man now has a bigger profile in the US than Joshua.
“First of all he has got a big personality,” said Warren. “He has been involved in the big fights. He went to Germany to fight Klitschko and went to America to fight their champion. That sums him up.
“Joshua took a long time to go to America and when he went he was going to fight Jarrell Miller and then he picked Ruiz. In both of those fights he was a huge favourite.
“Fury went and fought the best American heavyweight out there, that says something.”