Fury vs. Wilder, part 3 opens with a very awkward conference
LOS ANGELES >> Deontay Wilder said almost nothing on Tuesday, another sign that recovery is upon us.
When Wilder was battered into hospitalization by Tyson Fury on Feb. 22 of last year, he said he lost his energy because his robe and walk-up regalia were 45 pounds and sapped his strength.
He accused Mark Breland, his own trainer, of putting muscle relaxants in his water to further weaken him.
He said Fury had loaded up his gloves, even though Wilder’s people were in Fury’s locker room to watch the hand-taping process.
“If you believe it, you believe it,” promoter Bob Arum said. “It’s like the people who believe what they believe about the election.”
Now Wilder will meet
Fury a third time, July 24 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The two came to The Novo Theatre, purportedly to discuss the fight.
Those are normally uproarious sessions which get clicked by multitudes. This time Wilder got up and mumbled a few things about “blood will be shed” and “I’ll take off his head,” and spent the rest of the time in his earphone world.
Then Fury and Wilder staged the usual staredown, which lasted an uncomfortable five-and-ahalf minutes before Wilder and his crew walked away.
“Maybe it’s his shtick,” Arum said. “Muhammad Ali did the same thing before his second fight with Leon Spinks. How would I know?”
“People say stuff when they’re under immense pressure, when they’re mentally unwell, and they’re in a fragile state,” Fury said. “He didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to be there.”
This gave the whole stage to Fury, who usurped it delightedly. He came out shirtless, “because I’m the Gypsy (cq) King,” and he pretended to answer questions for both Wilder and himself.
If Wilder was trying to get inside Fury’s head, he should have known there’s no room for trespassers.
Wilder would be undefeated today if not for Fury, who rose from two knockdowns to get a draw in December of 2018 and then broke Wilder’s eardrum during his pulpy victory in 2020 that ended when Breland, in a humanitarian act, threw in the towel in Round 7.
“All those excuses, put them all together, they aren’t worth listening to,” Fury said. “He got battered and he’s going to get battered again. I hope he wears absolutely nothing into the ring this time.”
Fury found it hilarious that he had also broken the eardrum of Malik Scott, Wilder’s new trainer, in a long-ago sparring session. Wilder, in fact, once finished Scott in one round. But Scott had a 38-3-1 record with only 13 knockouts. He was hired to provide Wilder longoverdue technical advice.
“Fury had his best night on Deontay Wilder’s worst night,” Scott said. “I don’t have to teach Deontay how to put this into place. It’s already second nature to him, and Tyson won’t know how to handle it.”
“It’s like Mike Tyson said: Everybody’s got a plan until they get hit in the mouth,” Fury replied. “This time it’s going to end in the first three rounds. Last time I’d trained for three months. Now I’ve been training for a year and a half. I’ve had five training camps. I’ve improved at least 60 percent.”
Sugarhill Steward, son of Hall of Fame trainer Emmanuel, began training Fury before FuryWilder II. He helped unleash Fury’s aggression, and Wilder responded like most defrocked bullies do, helplessly.
Steward said Tuesday that Fury will be even more devastating, if more merciful.
“He has trained for a one-punch knockout,” Steward said.
“I hope to get to 300 pounds by then,” said Fury, who is 6-foot-9 and weighed 273 in the 2020 fight. “It’s not about speed and agility, but it’s about power.”
If you’re wondering why Fury and Wilder are being asked to provide answers when no one really has any questions, you may need a webinar on Boxing Business.
The logical fight is Fury, the WBC heavyweight champ, vs. Anthony Joshua, the Englishman who holds the other three belts. For a long time it seemed set for August in Saudi Arabia.
But Wilder had a rematch clause with Fury and arbitrator Daniel Weinstein upheld it last month.
Wilder was amenable to stepping aside for $20 million, but Arum said it made more sense “to get rid of Wilder first” and then stage Fury-Joshua at the end of the year. But Fury says he’s worried that Joshua will lose to Oleksandr Usyk, which would trigger a rematch clause between them.
“It was a letdown,” Fury admitted. “I didn’t want to give Wilder another fight because he doesn’t deserve it.”
Which begs the question: What did we do to deserve it?