REISS REVEALS HE ‘TOOK HIS TIME’ TO SEE IF TYSON COULD RECOVER FROM KNOCKDOWN
TYSON FURY was allowed to recover from his final-round knockdown against Deontay Wilder because he was a champion, referee Jack Reiss has revealed.
Fury was dumped on the canvas by a right-left combination with just two minutes of his enthralling heavyweight fight remaining.
The Brit (right, with Wilder) looked set to be counted out as he lay motionless, but somehow recovered to continue.
He was denied victory when the fight was controversially scored a draw, but has Reiss to thank for allowing him to continue.
And the official told Sirius
XM: “In the 12th round, these guys had boxed their hearts out, but there wasn’t a lot of heavy damage taken by either guy.
“They both moved into the 12th tired, but not extremely hurt. When Fury got hit and went down hard, that was an unbelievable knockdown.
“Two things went through my mind – No.1 always count a champion out and No.2 give this guy the benefit of the doubt and let’s see how he still is. So when I went down to count, not only did I get down, I scooted in so he could see my hand and hear my voice. I said, ‘Three, four...’, he was grimacing, his eyes and cheeks, so I knew he was awake and then, when I said, ‘Five’, his eyes popped open like I’d startled him. “He rolled over, got up and said, ‘I’m OK! Jack, I’m OK’.
“I said, ‘Do you want to continue?’, he said, ‘Yes’, and put his arms on my shoulders (left). I pushed his arms off and said, ‘Walk over there, come back to me and show me you’re OK’. He did and we let it go.”
Video footage suggested that Reiss allowed Fury too much time to recover, but he said: “The 10 count doesn’t mean 10 seconds. “It is the referee’s opportunity to make sure the fighter, who is hurt, can intelligently defend himself because you’re about to let a guy hurtle across the ring and finish this guy.” Fury and Wilder are in talks over a rematch, preferably in the spring, with both US and UK venues possible. Wilder has also emphatically ruled out facing Anthony Joshua – until he has sent Fury “back to hell”.