SOUND AND FURY IS JUST FAKE BRUISE
WHEN two men as gigantic as Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder pretend they are going to do unspeakable harm to each other it’s more suitcases than handbags. But it’s still Fake Bruise. America’s holder of the WBC world heavyweight title pushed Britain’s lineal champion, who shouted: ‘My wife shoves harder than you, b****.’ That was by no means the worst of the vernacular in earshot at the London launch of the mega-fight coming up in America on December 1. Once the BT cameras switched off — which came sooner than planned as the live airwaves turned four-letter blue — the pair dismissed their spat and then talked sweetly of their mutual affection. Wilder said: ‘It was just two bonding members of the same community communicating our love.’ Fury concurred: ‘None of this stuff counts for anything once we get in the ring. Yep, it was just a way of expressing our love of each other.’ Wilder added: ‘I come from a deeply religious family. I chose boxing as my sport because I needed the money to give a good life to my daughter Naieya, who was born with spina bifida.’ Fury continued the pleasantries: ‘I respect Deontay as a father, a husband, a boxer, a very dangerous puncher and a man. But I would not be fighting him if I didn’t know I could beat him.’ Fury and Wilder are united in genuine disdain for Anthony Joshua, who has declined to fight either of them. The Gypsy King and the Bronze Bomber said in unison: ‘Coward.’ There will be more of the playacting to come today in New York, on the deck of a battleship. Then tomorrow in Los Angeles, outside the Staples Center, where the real fight will take place two months from now.
Wilder v Fury will be televised live late Saturday night December 1 on BT Sport Box Office.