Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

By Boxing News - 10/03/2018 - Comments

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

By Scott Gilfoid: Tyson Fury (27-0, 19 KOs) and Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) finished their three-city news tour in Los Angeles, California on Wednesday with a mini-brawl on the stage. There was some pushing and shoving involved with the two large heavyweights, which led to both of their teams streaming forward to separate them.

(Photo credit Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME)

During the scuffle, Wilder’s manager Shelly Finkel was knocked down. He got back up and didn’t look worse for the wear fortunately. With the huge amount of team members on stage at the time, it looked like a planned set-up brawl to create excitement and make it look interesting for the boxing fans.

Fury, 29, with microphone in hand, trash talked Wilder gleefully, enjoying his moment in the spot-lite in making fun of his huge 6’7” opponent. Wilder didn’t take it too kindly being trash talked by Fury, so when he finally got close enough to him, he shoved him after the two stood for a face off. Like in the first brawl between the two fighters in London, it was Wilder that did the shoving when Fury got close to him and was taking trash to him.

Being shoved seemed to make Fury happy, because he bounced around on the outside, throwing air punches and taunting Wilder unmercifully without let up. Wilder looked like he wanted to get his hands on Fury to tear him to pieces, but it was just acting on his part. The two heavyweights actually like he each other a great deal, and they probably had a good laugh afterwards. Fury and Wilder aren’t the type to get in fist fights outside of the ring. This was all acting on their part to help pump up the volume for their December 1 fight.

Fury-Wilder are facing each other on December 1 on Showtime pay-per-view at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. It doesn’t hurt the promotion to have the brawls. The fight promotion needs as much hype as possible to attract interest from the U.S boxing fans, because Fury has never fought in the States and is an unknown with the casual fans. Further, Wilder isn’t a PPV fighter at 32, and doesn’t have a huge fan base.

This was the second scuff between Wilder and Fury in their 3-city news conference. The first mini-brawl took place in London on Monday. It started with Wilder shoving Fury. There wasn’t much involved in that other than the shove and the two teams converging on the fighters to make sure they don’t get near each other again.

”You’ve got one from America and you’ve got one from Great Britain.,” Wilder said. ”So that’s going to make it even more pleasurable for me when I knock him out. You’re coming to see this man’s body on the canvas and that’s what I’m going to deliver to you.”

Wilder sees himself as the number #1 heavyweight in the division and Fury #2. That might not make Anthony Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn too happy. Joshua thinks he’s the number #1 heavyweight, and a lot of his boxing fans believe in him to be the best.

Fury and Wilder have two months to prepare for their December 1 fight. The two fighters and thier management are hoping the interest from U.S fans is huge, but it’s unknown if the fight will excite the fans. Wilder isn’t a huge attraction, and Fury is seen as just some tall guy from England, who beat a mentally shot Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. Fury didn’t gain any a lot of credibility for the victory over Wladimir outside of his home country. Fury taking three years off from boxing stunted his career of sorts, and he’s now back to try and regain the momentum he had back them. He’s picked the wrong fighter for him to try and to that against in facing Wilder.

“Deontay Wilder needs Tyson Fury but Tyson Fury doesn’t need Deontay Wilder,” Fury said in mouthing off. “I chose Deontay Wilder as an easy victim. This is going to be the easiest fight of my career.”

Fury is getting a little mouthy, isn’t he? It almost sounds like Fury thinks he’s doing Wilder a favor by giving him a fight rather than the other way around. We’re talking delusions of grandeur on the highest scale. Wilder is perceived as the best heavyweight on the planet by a lot of boxing fans, and he’s helping Fury by giving him a world title shot that he’s done precious little to earn. Unless you consider beating the likes of Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pianeta as earning a title shot, Fury is getting the honor of fighting Wilder based on his past accomplishments rather than on what he’s done lately. The fans see Fury as as easy victim for Wilder rather than the other way around. A big upset win for Fury would be a real shocker, but it’s still unlikely to happen.

YouTube video

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference

Image: Wilder, Fury brawl in Los Angeles at press conference