By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder and former unified belt holder Tyson Fury (27-0-1, 19 KOs) had to settle for a 12 round split draw on Saturday night in their clash on Showtime pay-per-view at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The scores were 115-111 Wilder, 114-110 Fury, 113-113. Boxing New 24 had Wilder winning 114-112. Fury blew his chances of winning the fight by getting knocked down twice, and fighting too negatively.
It took a while tonight before Wilder was able to figure out how to land his power shots against the constantly moving Fury. When Wilder did start to land in the 8th, he was connecting nicely. Wilder’s windmill shots found a home on the side of Fury’s head in rounds eight through 12. You can argue that Wilder deserved to win the last five rounds based on him landing the much harder shots. When judges have to choose from scoring a round for a fighter that is landed the bigger shots compared to a guy that is only landing tapping jabs, they’re going to give it to the harder puncher 99% percent of the time. That’s just the facts. If Fury wanted to win the fight, he needed to throw power shots and fewer jabs.
In the final punch stats, Wilder landed 71 of 438 shots. For his part, Fury connected on 84 of 327 shots. Fury’s punches were mostly weak jabs. Wilder’s shots were power shots, and they landed with much more force. Although Wilder’s percentage of power punches landed was poor, he still landed the cleaner blows throughout the contest.
There wasn’t nearly enough offense from Fury, who looked his entire game plan was to focus on making Wilder miss, but without throwing anything back. It was sparring partner type stuff from Fury. There was nothing there from Fury to give the fight. He was very lucky the judges didn’t give the 30-year-old Fury a fat loss, as generally when a fighter is knocked down twice in a fight, they lose. That’s just the way it is. If Fury wanted to win, he should have stayed on his feet.
Fury was knocked down twice in the fight in getting dropped hard in the 9th and 12th round.
The referee gave Fury a huge break in not halting the fight when he was knocked down in round 12, as he was down hard. It was the type of knockdown in which referees usually stop the fight on the spot, but in this case the referee Jack Reiss gave Fury a break by waiting to see if he’d stir. Sure enough, Fury got back to his feet and was able to survive the round.
The 12 round draw sets up a situation where the boxing fans could see a rematch between Wilder and Fury. That would be a real treat for the fans. It’s better that Wilder and Fury fight each other than if the two of them to their separate ways and fight lesser guys. Anthony Joshua will likely be fighting Dillian Whyte next on April 13. After tonight’s draw, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn will probably offer Wilder only a smaller percentage deal for a fight against AJ. Since Wilder didn’t win the fight, Hearn will be able to use that as justification for him to offer him the 80-20 split that he’s been talking about wanting to potentially offer him. That’s a smaller split than the 33 percent that Joseph Parker was given for a fight against Joshua. Above all, the controversy over tonight’s draw needs to be settled between Wilder and Fury so that there can be a winner picked out. The way things are now, no one is truly happy. Fury’s boxing fans think he was robbed, and Wilder’s fans feel the same way. As such, Wilder and Fury must fight each other again.
