Fury-wilder 3 an instant classic for WBC title
LAS VEGAS – In measuring whether Tyson Fury’s gripping 11th-round knockout of Deontay Wilder was the greatest heavyweight title fight of all time, there was no one better to ask than Fury’s veteran promoter Bob Arum, who sat ringside for this one and the remarkable 1975 “Thrilla in Manila” that closed the Muhammad Ali-joe Frazier trilogy.
“It had all the drama you can ask for. I have never seen a heavyweight fight that compared to this one. Never, ever,” Arum said of Fury-wilder III while holding himself up by the T-mobile Arena ring ropes where Fury retained his WBC belt in an epic battle against the former long-reigning champion in a classic that featured five knockdowns and exposed each man’s colossal heart.
“Don’t ever doubt me. When the chips are down, I always deliver,” Fury said after surviving two knockdown punches from Alabama’s Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOS) during the fourth round.
It was only one round earlier that England’s Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOS) had dropped Wilder, exposing the former champion to another case of the wobbly legs that betrayed him in February 2020, when Fury dropped Wilder twice en route to a seventh-round technical knockout.
“When (Fury) knocked down Wilder in the third (Saturday), I thought the fight was won, that this would be a carbon copy of the last one,” Arum said. “But Wilder was still dangerous. Whatever we thought about Wilder before … the guy has a big, big heart.”
Wilder was driven by revenge following the disappointment of his first defeat, which he blamed on a heavy walkin costume that he said tired his legs, while also firing his assistant trainer for throwing in the towel and recklessly accusing Fury of fighting with loaded gloves.
The disdain heightened when Fury moved to fight then-three-belt heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua following pandemic-affected delays. It took an arbitrator to rule that Wilder had a right to the contracted third bout. After Fury delayed the bout again by testing positive for COVID-19, their date of destiny arrived.
Boxing has given us a slew of amazing Saturday night title fights before this – the first chapters of Evander Holyfield vs. Mike Tyson and Holyfield vs. Riddick Bowe, even the 2017 Joshua comeback TKO of former longtime champion Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium in England – but this was sublime, a battle of wills at the highest level in the sport’s glamour weight class that turned into a pure survival test.
“It’s the best live heavyweight fight I’ve seen,” said Fury’s U.k.-based promoter Frank Warren, 69. “What a man Tyson is. He is the standout heavyweight of his generation, bar none. The heart and bravery is amazing. Boxing should be proud of him and Deontay Wilder. It took two men to bring us that.”
Fury returned to his corner after the knockdowns, where trainer “Sugarhill” Steward ordered him to find his jab, to keep Wilder’s power shots slightly more at bay while setting up his own.
In the 10th, Fury capped a series of hard right hands by dropping Wilder
with a power punch to the head. Wilder rallied impressively again, rattling Fury’s head to close the round.
“It could’ve swung either way,” Fury admitted. “I came in to this thinking, ‘You can only do your best in life, and whatever’s written in the stars is meant to be.’ You mess with fire, you’ll get burned. He caught me twice, but I never thought this was over. It was, ‘OK, I’ll get you back in a minute.’ I did.
“That’s boxing. That’s life. You’ve got to keep moving forward. If you want something that’s hard to get, you’ve got to keep pushing.”
Fury had lived those words previously
after his first taste of the heavyweight championship was done in by his bout with mental illness that triggered alcohol, drug and food abuse. He came back to open the Wilder trilogy in December 2018, claiming a draw by lifting himself miraculously off the canvas following a 12th-round knockdown.
This time, he wanted to close the show for good.
In the 11th, he battered Wilder, backed him to the ropes and landed a final right hand to the left side of the head that sent Wilder head-first to the canvas, referee Russell Mora waving the series over, once and for all.