By Charles Brun: David Haye is intrigued with Saturday’s rematch between the super-sized heavyweights Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Haye says the key to Fury getting the decision win is to win 7 rounds, and NOT get knocked down in the other 5 rounds.
It sounds simple, but Fury had major problems staying on his feet when Wilder connected with his right-hand blasts in the later rounds in the first fight.
Haye says he’s siding with WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) to catch Fury with one of his big right hands to end the fight. But he’s not ruling out a victory for Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs), who felt deserved the victory in his previous fight with Wilder on December 1, 2018.
That fight was scored a 12 round draw, and the fans weren’t happy with the decision. The American judges saw Fury get dropped twice, and felt that he didn’t do enough to show that he deserved the win on the night.
Fury can’t get knocked down
“This time they both know what the other one has,” said Haye to IFL TV on Wilder vs. Fury 2. “Wilder knows this guy is a master boxer, and Fury knows this is no hype man. He’s got that genuine power, and he’s tasted it. He [Fury] needs to win seven rounds, and not get knocked down in the other five,” said Haye when asked what Tyson needs to do for him to beat Deontay.
“It’s as simple as that. He [Fury] needs to win seven rounds on all three American judges’ scorecards and NOT get knocked down. It sounds easy, doesn’t it? But it’s not. This guy punches so hard. Wilder is such a heavy hitter. In theory, if you watch his [Wilder] style. If I watched his style in a fight, I’d think, ‘Nah.’ It’s quicker than people think.
“When you watch prime Naseem Hamed, ‘Just walk him down.’ Nah, it doesn’t work like that. Naz had that equalizer, and that’s the same thing that Wilder has got. He’s got that freakish, touch you and it’s over. It changed the whole dynamics of the fight.
“You could be losing seven rounds in a row, and one-shot, over,” Haye said about Wilder. “It’s not a Hail Mary shot. No, he’s waiting for that one shot. He knows what he’s trying to do. It’s not just fluke throwing random shots. You don’t have the run with 41 knockouts if you don’t know what you’re doing. He knows what he’s doing, and other people don’t realize he knows what he’s doing,” said Haye on Wilder.
The only way Fury can take Wilder’s power away from him is to stay on the outside, and play it safe, throwing weak jabs all night. That’s basically what Fury did last time he fought Wilder.
Deontay Wilder’s power shots are strategic
“His power is having a style that everyone thinks is all over the place, ungainly, and he’s just throwing a lucky shot,” said Haye. It’s strategic. All the knockout punches he has, he practices these shots. These are world-class punches. They’re not thrown from the typical world-class hand position. He throws his right hand from the hip, but if it lands, it knocks you out.
“Tyson Fury, I’ve never seen anyone clown Deontay Wilder the way he did,” Haye said. “He put his hands, was smiling at him, and riding his shots. I’ve never seen anyone on the ropes riding shots from Wilder. Do you know how brave you gotta be to go on the ropes, and clown Deontay Wilder? You’ve got to be a certain type of mind frame to do that kind of stuff.
“It’s such an intriguing fight. Tyson Fury has made a career of proving everyone else wrong. I didn’t believe he had a shot in hell against Wladimir Klitschko,” said Haye. “He found a way to beat Wladimir Klitschko. He didn’t get knocked down in that fight. Can he do the same thing against Wilder? Can he bamboozle Wilder again? The first time I thought he did.
“Although he got knocked down a couple of times, I still thought he did enough to win the fight. Can he do it again a second time? Can he get back to that bank and rob it twice? Is Wilder going to be more cut with his movements, or more reckless and careless and look to blast him out?” said Haye.
It would be a silly risk if Fury fights Wilder off the ropes in the rematch on Saturday because that’ll take away his escape round entirely.
Fury will need to get up off the canvas
“I don’t know. Yes, I’m pretty sure of that,” said Haye when asked if Fury will need to get up off the canvas at some point in the fight. “At some stage, he’s going to be on the canvas. He was on the canvas twice last time, hurt badly both times. But you would have never thought that after seeing him get up, and rally back from both his knockdowns.
“It showed that he’s got a massive heart. I think Wilder needs to prove it more this time,” said Haye. “Fury proved last time that he’s the superior long-range boxer. You might see some more boxing skills from Wilder. And you might see Tyson Fury take the fight to Wilder. He said that’s what he’s going to do. He’s just one of those guys that might be able to pull off a crazy move like that.
“In the same crazy way that Evander Holyfield took the fight to Mike Tyson. Everyone said, ‘He’s going to run away from Tyson, and he’s going to try and out-box him.’ No, he went toe-to-toe with Tyson, and Tyson didn’t know how to deal with it. He beat Tyson at his own game in standing there trading punch for punch, blow for blow,” said Haye.
It’ll be a real challenge for Fury to get up off the deck two or three times on Saturday, and come back to win the remainder of the rounds. It may prove more difficult for Fury to accomplish that feat a second time, considering that Wilder will be throwing straighter punches this time. When Fury was most effective last time, he was in the center of the ring.
If Fury’s cut opens up, it’ll be devastating for him
“Maybe Tyson Fury is going to do what Holyfield did against [Mike] Tyson,” said Haye. “You never know. I can’t see a world where Tyson Fury can get through 12 rounds without getting nailed on the button again. And I know Wilder knows how poorly he performed the first time compared to how good he could be, and he’ll pull his socks up that much more and regroup.
“Tyson Fury had a bad cut in his last fight against Otto Wallin over his right eye. Two lacerations. They may open up again. If they do, that’s devastation. You need two eyes to beat Deontay Wilder,” Haye said.
“If one of those cuts open up on that eye, he’ll miss everything coming from Wilder from that angle. Against Wilder, you need to have your reflexes, particularly Tyson Fury does in slipping on the ropes.
“You can’t do that unless you have two good eyes. I’d love to see slug-fest from the first round. I think it’s going to be master boxing early doors, and I think Wilder is going to detonate on the chin at some stage. Then we’re going to see if Wilder can finish it or if Tyson Fury is going to switch on to that master boxing vibe where you just can’t hit him,” said Haye.
The massive cut that Fury sustained over his right eye in his last fight against Otto Wallin last September could pop open during the fight. If it does open, it’s going to be a major problem for Fury. It took 46 stitches to close that cut. Fury obviously has a lot of new scar tissue over that eye, which will be thin and vulnerable to Wilder’s punches.
Haye predicts Wilder KO victory over Fury
“Every round he gets knocked down, he comes back to win that round,” said Haye about ‘The Gypsy King’ Fury. “It’s insane. If I’m a betting man, I bet on Wilder by knockout. But I can see where Tyson Fury can out-box Wilder for the majority parts of the fight. It takes just that one equalizer [from Wilder] and it’s all over. So I got to go with that punch power. I was that punch power guy, and nine times out of ten, it got me out of trouble.
“So you can’t bet against that punch power. If anyone is going to get knocked out early, it’s going to be Tyson Fury by Deontay Wilder. 41 knockdowns, that doesn’t happen by accident.
“It doesn’t happen because you’re carefully selecting your opponents. It happens because you’re a freakishly hard puncher,” Haye stated about Wilder’s power. “I felt it, even before he was a champion now when he was younger. From 2011 to 2013, back then he had that thing.
“He’s a heavier puncher now than he was back then,” said Haye of Deontay. “Back then, he was the heaviest puncher I’d ever been hit by, and that was just in sparring. He’s very hard to hit clean,” said Haye about Fury. “Look at his opponents swinging and missing constantly.
“You can make an argument where both fighters can win, but people keep putting a gun to my head, ‘Who’s going to win?’ If you put a gun to my head, I’m saying Wilder by knockout. But I can make an argument where Tyson Fury can do what he did the first time, which he didn’t fairly get rewarded for,” said Haye.
Wilder neglected to throw body shots, which allowed Fury to dodge his punches aimed at his head all night.
