By Tim Royner: Deontay Wilder has responded to Tyson Fury’s 2nd round knockout prediction by saying that if he succeeds, he’ll retire from the sport. Wilder doubts the “pillow-fisted Fury will be able to hurt him at all in the fight, let alone knocking him out in the 2nd round in their February 22 rematch.
Fury will miss out on trilogy match if Wilder retires
If Wilder is serious about retiring if he loses by 2nd round knockout, then Fury would lose out on a bundle of money. Those two are expected to fight in a trilogy match later this year.
Still bitter at not getting the win in their first fight, Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs) thinks the judges make give him similar treatment as the first Wilder fight in 2018 by failing to give him the ‘W.’ As such, Fury wants to knock Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) when they fight on February 22 on ESPN and Fox PPV at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
In a sign of how untrusting Fury is about the judges, he’s replaced trainer Ben Davison with Sugar Hill Steward with the idea that he’s going to help him knockout Wilder.
Deontay to retire if Fury stops him in 2nd round
“He’s just promoting the fight or whatever. I just take it as that, and I don’t take it seriously,” said Wilder to TMZ Sport on Fury. “Second round, nobody believes that,” Wilder said about Fury’s 2nd round knockout prediction. “You know me, don’t blink. Just don’t blink. I’m horrible with predictions, and I’m the first to admit in calling out a round or a prediction.
“It’s a fun thing for me when people call out predictions, because you never know what’s going to happen,” said Wilder. “Sometimes things you have planned don’t go as you planned it, but him saying he’s going to knock me out in the 2nd round is unbelievable.
“He has pillows as fists. If he knocks me out in the second round, I’m retiring,” said Wilder. I’m done. I already have six years left in the sport, but if he knocks me out in the 2nd round, I’m done, bro, period,” said Wilder about Fury.
It would be a BIG embarrassment on Wilder’s part if Fury destroys him in 2 rounds, and you couldn’t blame him if he retires. Sometimes people want to hide when they’re humiliated, and hopefully Wilder doesn’t take that approach. Losing is part of the sport.
Fury has never knocked out an elite level fighter
It’s like a game of chess. You can lose a game in 3 moves. If Fury is better prepared for this fight than Wilder, then it’s entirely possible he can stop him in 2 rounds.
Fury does have a lot of knockouts on his record, but as Wilder points out, they weren’t against elite fighters. The best opponent that Fury has knocked out before is arguably Christian Hammer.
Wilder has stopped much better opponents than Fury. There’s no comparison at all. Fury couldn’t knockout Otto Wallin, but that was obviously before he started training with Sugar Hill.
Wilder believes he’ll land something big in 36 minutes to win
“It’s a great fight between you’ve got two great personalities,” said trainer Dave Coldwell to Behind The Gloves on Wilder vs. Fury rematch. “It’s such an intriguing fight the first time around. This time it’s even more intriguing because of what happened in the first fight.
“As far as I was concerned, Tyson Fury won the first fight, but he got dropped twice,” said Coldwell on Wilder getting two knockdowns. “The last one was one of the most unbelievable and stunning knockdowns I’ve seen with the way he got up after he looked like he was done on the floor.
“The problem with Wilder is he’s proved since the [Luis] Ortiz fight, he can lose every minute, every second of every round in a fight,” said Coldwell. “As long as he’s standing on his two legs, you can’t count him out.
“I think he truly believes at some point in those 36 minutes, he’s going to land,” Coldwell said on how Wilder thinks going into Fury rematch. “He generally believes when he does land, he’s going to knock you out,” said Coldwell.
Wilder has been knocking out guys since his amateur days. Without any real experience, Wilder slugged his way onto the 2008 U.S Olympic team, and then captured a bronze medal.
Deontay just wants to land that right hand
“Do I think it’s his game plan to let you out-box him?” said Coldwell about Fury. “No, but he just has one intention, and that’s to land the right hand. 36 minutes is a long time. That’s why you can’t write him off,” said Coldwell about Deontay in his chances against Fury.
36 minutes is a long time for Fury to have to keep from getting touched by Wilder’s hand, especially if he’s looking to KO him. For Fury to generate power, he’ll need to have his feet set, and he has to stand in from Wilder. It’s going to be hard for Fury to get everything he can on his shots without the risk of getting nailed by Wilder’s right hand.
Coldwell picks Fury to beat Wilder
“I fancy Tyson Fury to outbox him from the minute the first fight ended,” Coldwell said in predicting Fury win over Wilder. “If they have a rematch, he wins it, because that was Fury coming off a long layoff. He was fighting two guys that didn’t mean anything, and that didn’t give him any sort of test. He went in there and did that.
“Now he’s had training camps, and training camps, and fights since then,” said Coldwell about Fury’s preparation. “His timing and actual life as a boxer is more consistent. Whereas with the first fight, a lot of it was getting himself in shape. He’s been in shape for a long time now. So it’s about becoming a better fighter,” said Coldwell on Fury improving his game.
Like a lot of people, Coldwell thinks Fury’s improved conditioning will result in a better performance. That might not be the case. If Fury’s chin is the same, then him being lighter won’t change anything for the rematch with Wilder.
The power that Wilder is throwing his right hand with doesn’t account for whether Fury is lighter. No one stays upright after Wilder hits them, and it doesn’t matter if they’re in shape or not. They still go down.
Given that Coldwell had Fury winning the previous fight with Wilder, it makes sense for him to pick him. A lot of boxing fans think Fury won 10 rounds to 2 over Wilder, and Coldwell might agree with them.
Fury’s timing in replacing Davison isn’t good
“So I’ve him a better chance to put on a better performance,” said Coldwell in leaning in Fury’s direction over Wilder. “But there’s a couple of things. You can’t write Wilder off, because Wilder, all he has to do is land his right, and then you’re done. The other thing for me is him leaving Ben Davison. That’s a big thing,” said Coldwell on Fury.
“Time will tell whether it’s a good or bad decision,” said Coldwell in talking about Fury dumping trainer Ben Davison. “Whenever fighters leave trainers, ‘Oh, that’s a bad decision’ or ‘That’s the best thing you have done.’ No one knows until a few fights,” said Coldwell about Fury.
Wilder doesn’t understand the rationale behind Fury choosing to let Ben Davison go. Fury did well with Davison as his coach, and it didn’t make sense for him to go with Sugar Hill.
Fury trained briefly with the late Emanue Steward at Kronk Gym in Detroit. Sugar Hill is related to Steward, and he learned under him.
It would be good for Matchroom Boxing, Anthony Joshua, and Dillian Whyte if Wilder retires right now. Joshua, Whyte and Oleksandr Usyk would be able to fight over the titles without worry of having to deal with Wilder. It would be a dream come true for Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn.
Tyson Fury’s awkwardness and skills are his strengths
“For me, Tyson Fury’s strengths are his awkwardness, his unorthodox style of boxing, his skills, speed and agility for such a big man,” said Coldwell. “Those are his strengths. Coupled with his size and length. It all works really, really well. Wladimir Klitschko was a big puncher, and he [Fury] went in there and negated that, and look at what he did.
“He became heavyweight champion of the world,” Coldwell said on Fury about his win over Wladimir. “Deontay Wilder is a massive puncher, who for the most part negated that. Why would you want to stand and fight with a guy that is probably single punch-wise the biggest hitter in boxing?
“He’s certainly in my time,” continued Coldwell on Wilder’s power. “For a single punch, I can’t think of anyone that has turned fights around like that consistently, and can punch as hard with one shot,” said Coldwell about Wilder’s power.
Coldwell is correct in talking about Fury’s strengths. His awkwardness is what makes Fury so good. Why he would want to change that for the Wilder rematch is bizarre. If Fury is serious about wanting to KO Wilder, then he likely doesn’t have faith in the judges to give him the decision. Why else would Fury want to change what worked for him in the first fight?
It made sense for the judges to score the first fight a 12 round draw, because there wasn’t much to separate them. Fury had a slight edge in punches landed. Fury landed 84 punches compared to Wilder’s 71. Wilder knocked Fury down twice, and landed the harder shots. The scores made sense: 115-111 Wilder, 114-112 Fury, and 113-113.
Fury making a mistake if he slugs with Wilder
“So, I just think if you’re going to go in there, change your style to set yourself a bit more to land your bombs, you are inevitably going to be in positions where you’re going to be open to get caught yourself,” said Coldwell on Fury thinking of changing his fighting style. “If that’s the kind of fight it is, then I would favor the big puncher over the guy that’s not a big puncher, but who is trying to fight like a big puncher.
“That’s what I’m saying. Is it all a bluff? You don’t know,” said Coldwell in talking about Fury making knockout predictions. “But I would actually be surprised if he does go in there and does that, but then again, we’ll have to see,” said Coldwell
Fury would have to do a good job of using head movement to avoid Wilder’s power punches if he chooses to go to war in the trenches. Last time, Fury did a respectable job of avoiding Wilder’s big right hand in rounds 1-8. In the last quarter of the fight, Wilder began to find him with his shots, and that resulted in Fury going down twice.
You have to give Wilder credit as well though, as he figured out how Fury was moving to dodge his shots. Fury ducked a lot to get out of the way of Wilder’s right hand.
In the first three-quarters of the fight, Wilder couldn’t hit Fury cleanly with anything he threw. When Wilder did land shots, Fury was leaning away from them, and that took the heat off. That proved to be effective for Fury temporarily, but Wilder picked up on what he was doing.
