By Charles Brun: Trainer Adam Booth is impressed with what Tyson Fury accomplished in beating WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder by a 7th round knockout in their rematch on February 22.
Booth sees the victory for the 6’9″ Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) as an “immense” win due to the way that he changed his fighting style by turning into a slugger to beat the KO artist Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) at his own game by out-punching him.
Booth compares the magnitude of Fury’s win with the victory Lloyd Honeyghan pulled off in stopping previously undefeated IBF/WBA/WBC welterweight champion Donald ‘The Cobra’ Curry in September 1986.
What Fury accomplished in stopping Wilder is arguably an even bigger achievement than what Honeyghan did in stopping Curry, because the American welterweight was beaten many times after that defeat.
Fury’s win over Wilder surprising
“Tyson’s application of a new mentality to such a dangerous fight with that slightly adjusted balance, that Kronk attitude, was an immense performance,” said Booth to IFL TV on Fury’s win over Wilder. “It’s one thing training and doing it in theory and it’s another thing doing it under the spotlights with someone that is considered the most dangerous puncher in world boxing, and he did it and he did it without any hesitation or fear.
“It’s got to be one of the biggest wins. That compares to the way he did the job, forget the fact that he probably won the first fight around by a couple of rounds. He boxed a totally different fight that night. The way he went about the job I’d put it up there with the way Lloyd Honeyghan beat Donald Curry. Not a shock that he [Fury] won, but the manner that he won.
“The way he went about the job from the very first round with what appeared to be fearless abandon. To go from a back-foot, fighting, long-armed fighter to go to almost Tommy Hearns Kronk-like attitude with the back leg underneath you, wanting to be dominant and testing the man’s chin from the first round, yeah, that’s a 180 from what he did the first time around [against Wilder in 2018], and that’s why I compare it to Honeyghan stopping Don Curry,” said Booth.
There were a lot of things involved that led to Wilder losing to Fury, and it wasn’t simply Tyson having put in a great performance. Wilder may have been affected by the heavy 45-lb ring walk vest he wore. He didn’t look right before the start of the fight
Wilder was a sitting duck
“When I watched the fight live, I thought the fight should have been stopped in the 6th round,” said Booth of the Wilder vs. Fury 2 fight. “I just thought, ‘The fight needs to be stopped. He’s done.
“His legs ain’t under him,” Adam said of Wilder. “He keeps getting hit, and he’s done nothing to make it look like he could take the fight around.’ He’d become a sitting duck, bleeding from one ear, his balance was shot, and there were still six rounds to go. He was taking punishment from a fellow that was trying to knock him out and who weighs what, 18 or 19 stone.
“There was only one decision to make there, and Mark Breland did the right thing,” Booth remarked on Mark pulling Deontay out in the 7th. “I don’t know why he got criticized for it, because the one thing a fighter need is someone that can coach them the right way and guide them the right way, but also look after them and protect them.
“That’s what Mark Breland did, and Mark Breland should be commended for that and not criticized for it because he cared about Deontay as a person, not as a money-making machine. I’ve never had that [a fighter telling him to NEVER stop one of their fights], and I’ve never had a fighter tell me how to do my job. Absolutely, it’s a cliche, but it’s absolutely right,” Booth said when asked if fighters need a coach that can ‘safe them from themselves,'” continued Adam on Wilder needing to be saved.
Wilder was so worn out and tired by the 6th, he couldn’t protect himself from Fury’s shots. Trainer Mark Breland did the right thing in stopping the fight, and not letting Wilder beaten up any further.
Booth: Deontay looked done by 6th
“It’s not like Deontay was getting knocked out, and got hit by a shot and couldn’t get back up,” said Adam. “He wanted to go out on his shield. That’s one thing but he wasn’t. He was systematically taking heavy shots repeatedly and had shown nothing to get back into the fight.
“On top of that, he was bleeding from the ear, and his balance was shot. Whether that was a perforated his eardrum, there was something wrong with his balance. Was it from the shots that he was taking? It was the 5th or the 6th round, I thought, ‘This fight is done,’ and Mark Breland did the right thing.
“Like I said, for him to be criticized for doing the right job in a caring manner as well is disgusting for him to be criticized. If Deontay is keeping him on, then credit to him because at least made the right decision. “It’s a story, isn’t it?” said Booth when asked about Wilder’s excuse about his 40-lb costume. “If that’s what he believes, that’s what he believes. I just look at it as a boxing match. One fellow was landing shots and the other fellow wasn’t.
If Fury had more power, he would have been able to stop him a lot earlier, but he couldn’t do it. Tyson was hitting Wilder with clubbing shots, but he couldn’t muster enough power to get him out of there.
Ultimately, Wilder’s defeat was likely a result of all these factors:
- 45-lb Ring vest
- Getting hit by Fury’s rabbit punches
- Not fighting aggressively in the first round. This allowed Fury to hurt Wilder with rabbit punches that stunned him
- Ear injury
- Fighting with back against the ropes
- Bulking up to 231
