By Chris Williams: Deontay Wilder sees great danger ahead for nervous Tyson Fury if he goes ahead with his stated plan of attempting to knock him out in round 2 on February 22. Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) not only doubts Fury can accomplish his prediction, but he also has little faith in him being the aggressor in the fight like he says he will.
That nervousness from Fury is likely the result of him being knocked cold by Wilder last time. That had to have been a horrifying experience for Fury, and he clearly doesn’t want to experience that again. As such, Fury is trying everything he can to avoid that from happening.
Fury’s ability to handle Wilder’s power will be tested
Wilder may have destroyed Fury’s punch resistance with his 12th round knockdown. Fury was struggling in his last fight against Otto Wallin, and was hurt in the 12th round of that fight. Wallin can’t punch, but he still had Fury stumbling around after getting tagged.
In a sign of things aren’t going well with Fury’s nerves, he dumped his defensive-minded trainer Ben Davison, and hired Andy Lee and Sugarhill Steward. Fury is counting on those two coaches to improve his power, and make him a better offensive fighter. It’s a massive undertaking for one camp.
To make huge strides in a fighter’s power and offensive ability, it takes a lot of time. That’s something Fury doesn’t have. He’s been training for approximately six weeks, and he’s not going to make a lot of progress with his lack of power in that short period. However, Fury can certainly be more aggressive in the rematch with Wilder, but that might be a bad idea if his power isn’t present.
Wilder: It’ll be dangerous for Fury if attempts to be aggressor
“You never know what to expect with Fury, but one thing for sure that is hard to believe is him knocking me out in 2 rounds, and being the aggressor,” said Wilder to BT Sport. “I really can’t see that at this point in time, but who knows?
“When he gets in the ring he may feel lucky and feel some confidence that he’s going to do what he says he’s going to do, but it’s going to be very dangerous for him if he proceeds along with that idea,” said Wilder on Fury’s plan to try and knock him out. “He didn’t hurt me at all. Fury has pillows as fists, and that’s what he has.
“He’s a skillful boxer, but he don’t hit hard,” said Wilder about Fury. “He did it the first time, and then to do it the second time and you’re going off the same, ‘If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.'” said Wilder
It’s difficult to really know whether Fury is serious or not about him wanting to knockout Wilder in the 2nd. It would be smart for Wilder to assume that Fury will fight in the same herky jerky manner as he’s always done. It’s very likely that Fury is intentionally giving the boxing public fake intelligence in order to throw Wilder off.
Assuming Fury is serious about wanting to go after Wilder, he’s probably going to try and mug him at close range. We saw Fury doing that a lot in his last fight against Wallin. Fury spent a lot of time on the inside during that fight, and he made it a messy affair with his clubbing punches in close.
Fury is nervous with him changing trainers – Wilder
“I think it kind of makes you think,” said Wilder on Fury changing trainers. “There’s a little bit of nervousness there in the camp. You changing up so much, and you’re getting all these different trainers, you know. When you get a certain amount of trainers.
“It can get to the point where you have too many guys, and you’ll have too many chiefs in the camp,” said Wilder about Fury adding 2 new coaches to his team. “It won’t let you get nothing accomplished, because you’re worrying about this person, and that person controlling your camp,” said Wilder.
Fury is one of those fighters that is loyal, and the fact that he was willing to throw that out the window in replacing Davison, there’s worry there. It’s interesting that Wilder caught Fury contradicting himself by saying ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.’
If Fury truly believed that, he wouldn’t have replaced Davison, and he wouldn’t be talking about being more aggressive. That’s a sign of worry. A confident Fury wouldn’t have felt the need to change trainers.
Deontay to fight six more years
“For people that call me a ‘One Trick Pony,’ I’ll invite you into the ring, and I’ll perform my one trick for you,” said Wilder. “I’ll be happy to do so. Like I said, if it’s not broken, why fix it. I’ve been doing this 12 years, and what I’ve been doing is a continuous thing. and I’ve been consistent.
“I’ve been giving the fans what they want to see, and that’s knockouts,” said Wilder about him giving boxing fans what they want to see. “I’ll be here for six more years. By then I’ll be 40, and I should have everything that I’ve seeked out to have. I want greatness,” said Wilder.
Deontay said recently that he wants to break Floyd Mayweather Jr’s 50-0 record. For him to do that. he’ll need to stay around for six years or so. Further, Wilder wants to finish with an undefeated record with a high percentage of knockouts. If he finishes his career with a record of 51-0-1, 50 KOs, that would be huge.
Wilder predicts Fury won’t get back up after he drops him
“My prediction for the fight is a knockout just like all the other fights,” said Wilder in predicting a stoppage of Fury. “It’s going to be a knockout. I don’t see anything less happening. The only difference is it’s going to be between the first fight and the second fight, he will not get up this time. I told Fury, ‘I’m going to make you go TIMBER.’ Accomplished, check.
“I told Fury, ‘I’m going to baptize you.’ Accomplished, check,” said Wilder. “If you know anything about a baptism or you’ve been to a baptism, you know that he got dipped into the water, and he raised back up. He got dipped, and he rose back up. This time around, he will not rise back up. But we pray he will go back to his family though,” said Wilder.
Well, if Fury does get up from a knockdown at any point in the fight, Wilder is likely going to be a patient when he goes to finish him. Fury might not get up though if his punch resistance is shot.
Top Rank was smart in not letting Fury fight Wilder in an immediate rematch in 2019, because they likely realized how dangerous it would be for him. When fighters are knocked out the way Fury was, they sometimes lose their punch resistance, and are easily knocked out in their subsequent fights.