Wilder expects to weigh 230lbs and Fury 270 for rematch

By Boxing News - 02/20/2020 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is saying he’ll be weighing 230 lbs for his rematch with Tyson Fury this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. The weight gain by Wilder is obviously a move for him to deal with Fury’s weight, which he says will be at 270 lbs.

(Photo credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank Boxing)

If Wilder comes in at a lighter weight for the Fury rematch, it would be like Jack Dempsey vs. Jess Willard in their fight in July 1919. Dempsey weighed 187 lbs and was outweighed by 58 lbs by the 245-lb Willard. The weight advantage didn’t help the 6’6 1/2″ Willard though, as Dempsey used his superior speed to batter Willard in stopping him in 3 rounds.

Deontay could be slower

If this weight for Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) is accurate, it would be 22 pound gain from the 212 lbs ‘The Bronze Bomber’ weighed for his first fight against ‘The Gypsy King’ Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs) on December 1, 2018.

In Wilder’s last fight against Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz, he weighed 219 lbs on November 23, and in his fight before that, he weighed 223 lbs against Dominic Breazeale on May 18, 2019. So when Wilder says he’ll be 230 lbs for the rematch with Fury, there’s a certain amount of disbelief. The last time Wilder weighed in the 230 lb ballpark was his fight against Eric Molina on June 13, 2015, and he wasn’t impressive in that fight.

Wilder weighed in at 229 lbs, and he looked sluggish early on. He did eventually stop Molina in the 9th, but he didn’t look as sharp or as quick at that weight as he did in his previous fight against Bermane Stiverne in 2015 in which he weighed 219 lbs. Even with a broken right hand, Wilder fought better against Stiverne than he did in the Molina fight.

For Wilder, he’s better off being lighter, since his game is based on fighting on the outside where his speed is his best asset. The only way that Wilder would be helped at being heavier is if Fury is able to take the fight to the inside, and stay there all night. Max Kellerman of ESPN believes Fury might choose to fight Wilder on the inside in order to negate his power.

In Fury’s last fight against Otto Wallin, he fought him in close at times after he suffered a bad cut over his right eye. Fury didn’t look great fighting on the inside, but he was able to nullify Wallin’s left-hand power.

Fury being aggressive will be risky

“He could [be sluggish],” said Kellerman to Fighthub when asked if Fury’s decision to bulk up to 270 could cause him to be tired and slow against Wilder. “You know Kronk Boxing, and he got Sugar Hill to train him for this fight. Kronk Boxing is distance-fighting. It’s ‘catch and shoot’ and behind the jab.

“You’re letting go with long right hands. Tyson Fury is talking about bringing the fight to him. It’s not something you associate with that style of boxing and coming in heavy. To me, that seems like he [Fury] may want to lean on him on the inside and wear him down,” said Kellerman.

There’s a good possibility that Fury will try and MUG Wilder on the inside by crowding him in close to stifle his offense. We saw Fury use that approach in his last fight against Otto Wallin, even before he was badly cut in the third. Wallin was landing straight left hands from the outside. Fury clearly lacked the offensive skills to deal with that.

Deontay fights better when he’s on the outside

“I can see how it works,” said Kellerman in talking about Fury’s comments about wanting to be aggressive. “Deontay is strong but long at 6’7”, and what was he in the first fight, 212 lbs? That’s very, very light. He claims [he’ll come in at 230 lbs] he’d bulk up and come in at 217 for one fight. He’s such a puncher and has so much internal stuff.

“The only dudes that give up 30 lbs, and chase guys in the history of boxing,” said Kellerman. “Mike Tyson could give up weight and chase the other guy around the ring, and so could Holyfield, by the way for different reasons. Jack Dempsey could.

“Marciano could, although he didn’t fight a lot of big guys, Joe Frazier could,” said Kellerman. Wilder does that. However, because guys are scared, they give him the distance, and at distance, this dude has long levers and can let go. But if you crowd him, he now has to create space.” said Kellerman on Deontay.

Wilder is a far better fighter when he’s on the outside. He’s been lucky thus far that none of his opponents have had the inside skills to take the fight to close quarters against him. Fury may be the guy to do that to Wilder, and it’ll be interesting to see how he reacts.

Tyson Fury is a polished in-fighter – Kellerman

“And to create space against a guy that is a polished in-fighter. Actually, Tyson Fury is a polished in-fighter surprisingly because of his height,” Kellerman continued. “To create space you sometimes have to push off. You have to have a strong base, and it’s not like Wilder is like a big-legged fighter.

“He’s a long spindly guy,” said Kellerman about Wilder. “That’s the danger. You gotta get through the danger zone, which is a big risk,” said Kellerman.

Fury can fight a little bit on the inside, but he mostly just throws clubbing shots to the side and back of his opponents’ heads when he’s in close. In other words, Fury isn’t skilled like Andre Ward was on the inside. You can argue that Fury is more of a Chuck Wepner type on the inside.

Fury’s inside fighting is more of an annoyance than effective. However, if Fury chooses to mire Wilder in molasses by forcing the fight to the inside, he could, if nothing else, prevent him from landing his right hand.  It’ll be an ugly fight, to be sure, but it might be Fury’s only chance of winning. It would be the equivalent of a basketball team building up a lead, and then playing keep away to run out the clock.

Kellerman expects Fury to fight Wilder on the inside

“We’ll see if Tyson Fury actually does it. We found out in the Wallin fight when he was down an eye, it was kind of a brilliant strategy when you think about it. So he went on the inside so in close to where it’s not about vision It’s about touch, and I think he kind of fell in love with that a little bit.

“In a way, it’s actually less work,” Kellerman said about fighting on the inside. “But in a way, it’s more dangerous. I think Tyson Fury found that out in the Wallin fight, and for certain reasons to crowd, Deontay makes logical sense. And I think also he kind of liked it,” said Kellerman about Fury fighting on the inside.

“It’s probably easier than to box at a distance and avoid all those bombs when the guy is a long-arm puncher, who can throw more big bombs at you. It’s easier to get inside where Deontay’s reach really can’t generate the power, you would think,” said Kellerman.

In looking at Fury’s last contest against Wallin, it’s very likely that he will choose to smother Wilder’s offense by staying in close. The Wallin fight was a trial run for Fury to get him ready for the tactics that he’ll use against Wilder.

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