Deontay Wilder says he’ll lose interest in facing Fury if he loses to Klitschko

By Boxing News - 04/09/2015 - Comments

deontay32 - Copy (2)By Scott Gilfoid: #1 WBO, #3 IBF, #3 WBC, #5 WBA heavyweight contender Tyson Fury (24-0, 18 KOs) could get a world title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (33-0, 32 KOs) likely without having to wait until the end of the year like the 6’9” Fury is having to wait for his title shot against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

Fury prefers to take the fight against Wladimir rather than facing the 6’7” talented Deontay for his WBC strap. Fury says that he wants to face Wladimir, 39, because he sees him as the top heavyweight in the division, and wants the credit with beating him.

Well, the problem is that the chances are much higher that Fury is going to get royally whipped by Wladimir this year at some point. Once that happens, Deontay says a lot of the interest that he has in fighting Fury will be gone.

“If he fights Klitschko and lose, I don’t think I’ll be interested anymore,” Wilder said via Thaboxingvoice.com. “His people don’t want this fight, all of them on Klitschko. First Jennings was my mandatory, he ran to Klitschko, now it’s Fury. I want Fury because I’m tired of his three years of talking.”

I can’t say I blame Deontay if he loses interest in facing Fury once he gets beaten by Klitschko. The whole driving force behind the Deontay vs. Fury fight will be gone at that point. Once Fury has his first defeat, he’ll be just another heavyweight in the division, and it won’t be nearly as big a deal as if he were to face Deontay now before he’s been beaten.

If Wladimir whips Fury especially bad by knocking him down three or four times in the process of knocking him out, then that will make it even less than interesting for someone like Wilder to turn around and fight Fury. If Wilder did change his mind and decide to throw a bone to Fury by giving him an arguably undeserved world title shot off of a knockout loss to Wladimir, then it might be seen more as a charity case by Deontay rather than a situation where Fury has earned the title shot.

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The only reason why Deontay would face Fury with him coming off of a recent loss to Klitschko would be due to Fury’s popularity in the UK. At that point the fight would be perceived more as a case of Deontay facing a popular fighter rather than a talented fighter.

For Deontay, I think he wants it to be a situation where he’s fighting one of the most talented fighters, not just some guy who is popular in his own country due to his trash talking and his wins over weak 2nd and 3rd tier opposition. I mean, the best guy Fury has fought during his career is a badly flawed Dereck Chisora.

We’ve never seen Fury face a quality guy with excellent power and/or size. Fury never fought the likes of Carlos Takam, Alexander Povetkin, Kubrat Pulev, Wilder, Bryant Jennings, Chris Arreola, Bermane Stivern, Tony Thompson or Lucas Browne. Those are guys that Fury should have fought ages ago, but he’s not faced any of them and you have to wonder why. How do you go you’re entire career without facing one of those fighters?

I don’t see Fury looking to face the 6’6” Wladimir due to him being the so-called best fighter in the heavyweight division. I see Fury facing Wladimir due to the readymade excuse Fury would have if he were to lose to Wladimir. No one would give Fury a lot of grief if he loses to Wladimir because he’s seen as the top heavyweight in the division. But if Fury were to lose to Deontay Wilder, he’d likely be dumped on and seen as someone who is just another one of the many soft touches in the heavyweight division.

Wilder is going to be around for a long, long time, and fans wouldn’t just see it as a situation where Wilder would eventually retire so that Fury would be the No.1 guy. If Fury loses to Wladimir, it’s not as bad because the Ukrainian heavyweight will eventually be retiring in the near future. But it won’t be like that with Wilder because he’s likely to stick around the sport for the next 10-15 years. Fury would forever be seen as below Wilder by many boxing fans unless Fury were to avenge the defeat, which I highly doubt he could do.



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