Wilder has to shake it up... or else

IS it possible to beat a sporting opponent after a previous meeting in which they dominated you to the point of humiliation?

That is the multi-milliondollar question that boxing fans will be pondering as we look forward to the completion of the Fury-wilder trilogy this weekend.

Deontay Wilder was brutally dominated by Tyson Fury (above) in the second fight and it is testament to the man’s determination that he wants to have another go.

The short answer to my opening question is ‘yes’. We only have to look to recent fight-game history to find an example to back this up.

When Nate Diaz stepped in on short notice to take on Conor Mcgregor in their first fight in 2016, many presumed that Mcgregor would still dominate. The opposite happened.

Diaz badly exposed the weaknesses behind Mcgregor’s bravado and humiliated him with a dominant victory. Diaz was clearly too big and durable for Mcgregor and the veil of invincibility that ‘The Notorious’ wore proudly was ripped away.

When Mcgregor requested a rematch immediately many thought it was just his ego talking and he would be exposed again in a weight category that he shouldn’t go anywhere near to. However, he came back for the second fight and won it fairly on a points decision. It was a phenomenal performance.

However, the reason Mcgregor was able to do this was because he took the first fight firmly on the chin. He accepted what he did wrong and, more importantly, accepted what he needed to do to reinvent himself to beat a man who wouldn’t go to sleep after one of his punches.

He parked his ego, got fitter and radically changed his tactical approach to the second fight. From the first minute of the second fight, everyone could see that this was a different contest.

This question will hang over Deontay Wilder. What has he done to radically change his approach against Tyson Fury? If not a lot, then he will be dominated again. We will have to see something in the first couple of rounds of the fight that makes us believe that this is truly a different Wilder (left) in the ring.

I have seen nothing in Fury’s comments and preparation that makes me think he is taking this third fight lightly.

He is going to come into the fight as big as ever and the Anthony Joshua loss against Oleksandr Usyk will only heighten his senses to the danger that Wilder provides.

So, the onus will be on Wilder to show something different. If that is not there, then it will show that Wilder couldn’t truly accept the previous loss and what he needed to do to come back from it, as Mcgregor did in 2016.

What do they say about the definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Over to you, Deontay Wilder.