That's mine," Fury yelled at Wilder, who holds the WBC heavyweight title. Tyson Fury is the best heavyweight in boxing. The baddest, too.But the pair did jaw at each other from a distance on the podium. “Not bad for a feather duster,” said Fury. As Fury wrapped a post-fight press conference, he looked over at his co-promoter, Frank Warren. The last two years have been big for Fury. After that, the winner of Anthony Joshua’s rematch with Oleksandr Usyk will be eager to face Fury, setting up an undisputed heavyweight championship fight. Dillian Whyte, a heavy-handed British heavyweight, is Fury’s mandatory challenger, and Fury-Whyte will be a huge event in the U.K. But when he returns, there are appealing options. The 33-year-old plans to take the rest of the year off, citing the six months he has largely been away from his family. I hope that he’s OK … we’ll see what he can do in the future.”įury’s future is much rosier. “He took a lot of punishment tonight,” says Fury, “and that puts a lot of mileage on the clock. Tyson Fury is next primed for a mandatory showdown with British challenger Dillian Whyte. Does Wilder really want fights against Robert Helenius or Andy Ruiz? Or will retirement be more appealing? “The saga is done-done for good.” A rebuild could be long, and it’s no certainty Wilder will make it back to this level. A fourth fight with Fury isn’t happening. He has made more than $100 million in his career and will likely cash a check in excess of $20 million for this fight. But will he? He’ll be 36 later this month. He came to lean on me, try to rough me up and he succeeded.” I know that in training he did certain things, and I also knew that he didn’t come in at 277 pounds to be a ballet dancer. staffer, “I’m not sure what happened.” Said Wilder, “I did my best, but it wasn’t good enough tonight. Wilder, who left the ring without giving a post-fight interview, told a P.R. More than once, Wilder scoffed at the idea that Fury could knock him out.īut he did, and he did it while delivering the kind of beating that rivaled the one Wilder took from Fury the last time. He had Scott, a longtime sparring partner with whom he shared a strong bond. This fight, Wilder vowed, would be different. He had spent the months following the first loss to Fury pushing conspiracy theories. It was the kind of “crunching right hand,” says Fury, “that ends careers.” A right hand connected cleanly on the side of his head, sending a beaten Wilder careening to the canvas. In the middle of the 11th, Fury backed Wilder into the ropes. It probably should have been over before then, but Malik Scott, who took over Wilder’s corner after Wilder fired trainer Mark Breland after Breland threw in the towel in the last fight, was not about to end it, and referee Russell Mora saw just enough from fight from Wilder to stay away. Wilder had his moments-after getting knocked down for the second time in the tenth round, Wilder rallied to land several big punches on Fury before the end of the round-but the pop in his punches, potent early, had lost a lot of steam. He unleashed a brutal attack on Wilder in the seventh, bombarding him combinations, battering him with heavy body shots. With his trainer, Sugar Hill, in his ear, Fury went back to the jab, backing Wilder up with it, using it as a range finder to land right hands over the top in the fifth and sixth. It’s exhausting, and by the end of the third round Wilder looked gassed.Ĭonditioning likely stopped Wilder from capitalizing on his success in the fourth round, and Fury took advantage. And a tactic Fury often employs is to drape his entire body over opponents during clinches, forcing them to hold him up. There are few fighters Wilder, at 6-foot-7, has to look up to. It didn’t help Wilder that Fury, one of boxing’s smartest fighters, knows how to use his weight. Wilder wasn’t a premier knockout artist because of his size-he routinely fought under 220 pounds, including in the first fight with Fury-but his speed. But boxing success isn’t built on muscle. He claimed the weight, most of which was added to his upper body, would make him more durable. He weighed in at a career-high 238 pounds, seven pounds heavier than he was for the last fight. Much was made of Wilder’s condition coming into this fight. Suddenly Wilder seemed poised to finish the fight. Seconds later, a short right hand by Wilder put Fury down again. A couple of grazing punches sent him to the canvas. A thudding right hand by Wilder in the fourth wobbled Fury. Round-by-round analysis of Fury-Wilder IIIĪnd then it didn’t.
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