Two of the best heavyweight boxers in the world will enter the ring on Sunday. Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury will contest a rematch of an incredible bout that ended in a split draw back in December 2018. On the line will be the WBC, The Ring, and lineal heavyweight titles.
The pair will headline a pay-per-view card from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Nevada. The winner will be considered the top heavyweight in the world, and will likely go on to attempt to unify all the heavyweight titles with a bout against Anthony Joshua.
Before we get to the Joshua fight, though, we have to settle who’ll face him. Fury and Wilder are both undefeated in their careers, with the lone blemish on either’s record the draw from their first bout. Wilder is 42-0-1 with a knockout in all but one of those wins. Fury is 29-0-1 with 20 knockouts.
Fury was dropped twice in the first bout, but controlled much of the action. The rematch will be fascinating. Many believe Wilder will try to land the knockout shot earlier than usual, since he knows he can put Fury on the ground, but whether or not he’ll be successful depends on how much Fury picked up from the first fight, and whether he can continually out-box someone of Wilder’s caliber over 12 rounds.
Wilder is both a technically sound boxer and someone who occasionally loses focus in a big way. Whenever he loses focus, he tends to get sloppy. What makes him great is any time a fight starts to trend in the other direction, he always — yes, always — finds a way to come back with something devastating.
The last time these two fought, that was the story. Wilder landed plenty throughout the bout, but Fury had begun to take over and was even dominant for large swathes of the bout. Fury was well in control when he was dropped in the ninth round.
Fury survived the count and made it to the 10th round, where Wilder began to look gassed following the effort he expended trying to put Fury away in the ninth. Fury took over and clearly won that round, and again in the 11th. But in the 12th, Wilder landed a right-left combination that put Fury on the ground again. He was motionless for a couple seconds, with just about everybody in the building and watching at home thinking the fight was done.
But Fury got up, and controlled the action for the remaining seconds before the fight was called. Fury out-landed Wilder throughout the bout, but the two knockdowns loomed large. Eventually, a split draw was handed down and both fighters called out unified champion Anthony Joshua, a boxer many have claimed is ducking the pair of them.
Things got personal at the latest press conference
I’m not one who gets drawn into the slap-fights and posturing that happens at weigh-ins for combat sports. It almost always feels manufactured and fake, but things got … exceedingly personal between Fury and Wilder this time out.
There was the usual pushing and talking, but Wilder went on the offensive with some deep cuts. He took some gratuitous and unpleasant shots at Fury’s mental health, something the 31-year-old struggled with for years.
“I found you when you were strung out on coke, as big as a house and contemplating killing yourself,” Wilder said at the weigh-in.
Fury missed three years of his career dealing with bi-polar disorder, addiction and other issues. After beating Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015, he didn’t step into the ring again until June 2018, when he bested Sefer Seferi. He would go on to face Wilder for the first time just a few months later.
These disgusting attacks from Wilder are about as personal as you can get. If you care about folks suffering from mental health issues, now you know who to root for.
Due to the shoving match from the press conference, the two were even barred from a faceoff in the ensuing weigh-in.
What comes after is just as interesting, too
While the contract that Fury and Wilder agreed to before the rematch includes a trilogy clause the loser can trigger, most fans want to see the winner go on to face Joshua. Currently the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight champion, initially losing those titles to Andy Ruiz, Jr. before winning the rematch, Joshua is the logical next opponent for either boxer.
Both Fury and Wilder have called out Joshua in the past. Wilder in particular was consistently floated as an opponent for Joshua before Fury returned from his long layoff. All the while, Joshua gained a reputation for shopping for favorable bouts and dodging more dangerous opponents.
Whether there’s any truth to that or not, he won’t be able to avoid the winner of Saturday’s bout, provided we don’t immediately get Wilder-Fury III. Joshua has more belts, but he won’t be considered the best heavyweight in the world until he beats either Wilder or Fury.
So, who’s going to win?
Wilder has more power than Fury, and we saw glimpses of that when he put Fury on the ground in their first bout. But Fury is more technically proficient, and when he’s at his best he can out-maneuver Wilder.
Can he do that for 12 rounds or score a knockout himself?
It’s possible, but betting on Wilder to sit back and take it is an exercise in futility. He’s too good, too powerful, and too crafty. He’s at his best when someone pushes him, and that’s exactly what Fury will do. But in the end, Wilder will likely come out on top, probably with a knockout, though a decision wouldn’t be shocking.
