By Allan Fox: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘The Bronze Bomber’ Wilder was sure to put a rematch clause in his contract for his title defense against former IBF/WBA/WBO champion Tyson Fury for their fight in six days from no on December 1, but it’s believed that he won’t ever need it.
Fury, 6’9″, is expected to take a big fall this Saturday night when Wilder connects with one of his mighty right hands to the head of the lanky British fighter. If this fight hand an improbable story book type ending, Fury would surprise Wilder, out-box him and then knock him out to force a rematch on his part.
It’s technically possible for Fury to pull off an upset on Saturday night. We’ve seen it happen in boxing countless times where the favorite winds up losing to the underdog.
Should Wilder push for a rematch if he loses to Fury?
If that occurs with the Wilder-Fury fight, it might not be worth it for Wilder to call for the rematch. If Wilder gets out-boxed in a major way by Fury, it would be major career risk for him to go back for a second fight. There are certain styles that give each fighter problems. It’s rarely a good idea for a fighter to press for a rematch when they get soundly beaten by a fighter. Wilder could be ruining his chances for a fight with Anthony Joshua if he loses twice in a row to Fury. The smart thing for Wilder to do after a loss to Fury is to blame his training methods or his weight. The boxing public would buy into an excuse from Wilder to explain away a loss to Fury by saying that he came into the fight at too light of a weight. The boxing fans would agree to that, and it would work out in Wilder’s best interest.
Wilder’s weight has been dropping for his last six fights
Wilder’s weight has gotten so low lately that he’s now for all intents and purposes a cruiserweight masquerading as a heavyweight. In Wilder’s last fight against Luis ‘King Kong’Ortiz, he weighed in at 214 lbs. Boxing fans haven’t seen a heavyweight that small since the days of a young George Foreman when he weighed 217 lbs in beating Joe Frazier in 1973. Nowadays, heavyweights typically weigh between 240 to 250. You don’t see heavyweights weighing in 215 region holding world titles any longer. Wilder is a rare breed at that. Fury is expected to come into the Wilder fight at 250 lbs at the minimum. He might even be as low as 245 lbs in hopes of dealing with Wilder’s agility. Being 36 lbs bigger than Wilder could be a real asset for Fury.
Here’s Wilder’s weights in his last six fights:
– 228
– 226ΒΌ
– 222
– 220
– 214
There’s no explanation on Wilder’s part for why his weight continues to drop. There’s no sign of any wasting illness that would cause Wilder to lose increasingly more weight with each fight. But what’s clear though is there’s going to be a point of diminishing returns for the 32-year-old Wilder. If he continues to lose more weight with each fight, he’s going to wind up dropping below 200 lbs, and he’s simply going to be too light to deal with the super heavyweights that dominate the heavyweight division. Wilder’s weight has looked fine in training for his December 1 fight against Fury, but looks are misleading. Wilder could come into the below 214, and find himself too light to deal with Fury’s size advantage. Believe me; if Fury feels he’s got an advantage over Wilder, he’s going to play it to the hilt to take advantage of it.
Will Deontay Wilder’s confidence be shaken in a rematch with Fury?
Losing to Fury on Saturday night will be a bitter pill for Wilder to swallow. Fury won’t just beat Wilder physically. He’ll beat him mentally in the same way he did to Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. If you ever wonder why Wladimir never pushed hard for a rematch with Fury, you have to consider the mental aspect of the game. Fury totally dominated Wladimir mentally and beat him to the point where it would have been a major risk on his part to face him a second time. Wladimir knew better, and chose to take the safe route by going in another direction. If Wilder does the same thing, he might be saving his career from taking a second loss to Fury. Wilder can always fight Fury in a rematch down the road in two or three years after he’s rebuilt his confidence with a lot of good wins. But for Wilder to return to the ring to fight Fury a second time in an immediate rematch, that’s too risky. Wilder would be best to let time go by for him to fully digest his defeat, learn from it and improve himself mentally so that he understands what he did wrong in the fight. A lot of fighters fail to spot what they did wrong, and they’re unable to improve on their performances when they do try and get revenge for their losses. It’s a rare bird that in boxing that is able to learn fully what he did wrong, and correct the mistakes in the rematch. Wilder might not be able to learn enough to understand what he did wrong in the first fight with Fury so that he could adapt enough to win the second fight. Wilder losing to Fury could wreck him mentally to the point where he would immediately lose to him in a second go round. It would be wiser to forget about the Fury fight so that he can get distance from the loss, and learn in an objective manner what went wrong.
The best scenario for a Wilder-Fury rematch
The only way that Wilder (40-0,39 KOs) should insist on a rematch with Fury (27-0, 19 KOs) taking place is if he loses a close decision to the British fighter. If Wilder is competitive and does well for the most part, but comes up empty in losing a narrow decision, then it makes sense to do it again immediately. Wider would have something to build on in a second fight with Fury, and he would be able to improve on the small areas where he failed to do the right things in the fight. But if Wilder is completely beaten mentally and physically by Wilder, it would be silly for him to demand a rematch with him. It would be against Wilder’s best interest to take a second fight with Fury under those circumstances, and I suspect that Deontay’s adviser Al Haymon would be sure to tell him that. There are some losses where it’s smart for a fighter to try and avenge it, but it’s never a good idea to fight a guy a second time when you’ve been beaten badly by them. Roman Gonzalez vs. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai is a good example of that. George Foreman vs. Joe Frazier is another example. Frazier should have never fought Foreman a second time after being blown out in two rounds by him in their first fight.
Wilder can’t let his pride get to him
If Wilder is taken to school by Fury for 12 rounds in losing to him on Saturday night, he’s got to swallow his pride and forget about facing him a second time for now. Wilder needs to let time go by before he gets inside the ring with the talented Fury. There would be too much riding on a rematch if Wilder pushes for it immediately.