By Charles Brun: Anthony Joshua has never fought Deontay Wilder, but he believes Tyson Fury can win tonight as long as he avoids the Bronze Bomber’s right-hand shots for 12 rounds. Joshua sees Wilder as having a limited arsenal on offense, and can only win with his right hand.
On the flipside, Joshua views Fury as having a lot more weaponry, and far better boxing skills. This is why Joshua is leaning towards Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs) to beat Wilder.
Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) came close to winning a decision against Fury last time they fought. The judges gave Fury the majority of the early rounds, but you can argue that Wilder did enough to win at least 3 of them.
Deontay landed the much harder shots and was the one coming forward. Fury was throwing jabs mainly and looking tentative when he’d throw a slow right hand. The judges were impressed with Fury’s jabbing.
Wilder must knock Fury out to win – Joshua
“For Wilder to win he has to knock Fury out, and he couldn’t do that the first time,” said Joshua to skysports.com. “For Fury to win he can hurt Wilder or out-box him. Fury has more to his arsenal so that’s why I’m leaning to him.
“Fury is underestimated with his punching power which makes him dangerous. Wilder isn’t the best of boxers but he has a right hand – if you can avoid that, you have the beating of him,” said Joshua.
It’s going to be a major work for Fury to avoid Wilder’s right hand for 36 minutes, especially with him being so heavy. Anyone that suddenly packs on a lot of weight, as Fury has done, will know it’s not easy to carry that extra weight around for a strenuous athletic event.
Fury did a good job of back-pedalling each time Wilder would come forward looking to hit him the last time they tough, but he still got caught twice and put on the deck. Now that Fury is heavier, it’s not going to be as easy for him to fly backwards each time Wilder goes on the attack mode.
Did Fury make a mistake in bulking up?
One thing that could play a part in tonight’s rematch is the weight that Fury has packed on. He weighed in at 273 lbs last Friday at the weigh-in, and that’s the third-highest weight of his pro career. In Fury’s fights against Sefer Seferi and Joey Abell, he weighed over 270 lbs and looked slow, upright and very hittable.
It doesn’t matter if Fury is carrying more muscle than he did in his fights with Seferi and Abell, he still has to lug that extra weight around for 12 rounds.
Weight is weight; it doesn’t matter if it’s fat or muscle when it comes to sports that involve cardio like boxing. Fury’s cardiovascular system will need to work harder with him carrying the 273 pounds than it did when he weighed 256 lbs for his first fight with Deontay in 2018.
If Fury gets tired of running from Wilder for six or seven rounds, we could see him getting dropped repeatedly in the second half of the fight. It might not be better that Fury gets up each time to continue fighting. If Wilder is able to knock Fury down 2-4 times in the contest, it’s going to be difficult for him to win a decision.
Chisora: Fury’s power won’t be better
“The shoving was to try and sell pay-per-views,” said Chisora to secondsout. “In Tyson’s last fight, he lost so much weight, he was finding it hard to move, and his power was gone. This time they’ve worked on putting more weight on and fighting much better.
I don’t think he’s going to have power. You’ve got to hit Deontay Wilder lights out for him to get out, and Deontay Wilder knows how to hit somebody lights out to get them out. Deontay last time, he was swinging. This time, he’s not going to swing,” said Chisora.
“The Brits bring it. When we invade, we invade. It was the same thing in New York and Saudi,” said Chisora to Boxing Social in talking about the big British crowd that showed up for the Wilder vs. Fury 2 weigh-in last Friday. “I’m so proud. Things happen in boxing, and he came back,” said Chisora about Fury being able to make a comeback after 2 1/2 years out of the ring.
“It’s how you come back. He’s done well, and I’m so excited about being in Vegas. I don’t take anything away from that. The guys did what they wanted to do in coming in heavier, and that’s what they did.
“I did want him to work on his right hand, but he did work on his right hand so many times, but he doesn’t have much punching power,” said Chisora on Fury. “He does have beautiful boxing skills, which he’s got,” said Chisora.