Kelly Pavlik doesn’t want to see Fury vs. Wilder 3 fight

By Boxing News - 03/26/2020 - Comments

By Jim Maltzman: Former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik says he doesn’t want to see a third fight between heavyweights Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder. Like many fans, Pavlik believes that Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) won both fights with Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs), and he sees no reason for them to fight a trilogy at this point.

Kelly says it’s “critical’ for the heavyweight division for WBC champion Fury to take on IBF/WBA/WBO champ Anthony Joshua in the undisputed championship. That’s the fight that fans want to see, and it’s a match that could bring the heavyweight division back to where it was in the 1980 and 1990s.

Wilder has already exercised his rematch clause to force a third bout with Fury, and his mind appears to have been made up. The possibility of Wilder changing his mind about taking the third fight with Fury is nonexistent. The fact of the matter is, Wilder and Fury will be fighting on October 3 in Las Vegas, provided the contest doesn’t get postponed due to the coronavirus.

Wilder vs. Fury 2 was good for the sport

“It’s been kind of crazy,” said Pavlik to TheRingDigital on the Fury vs. Wilder fight. First of all, I think it’s great for boxing, especially the heavyweight division that has the crossover fans and it gets their attention to boxing. I think the way the fight played out, I think it was good for the sport,” said Pavlik about the February 22 rematch between Fury and Wilder.

“Tyson Fury came in and said he was going to take out Wilder early. I didn’t believe him that he was going to fight that style, you know? I have to admit that he came out and he executed it perfectly and did what he said he was going to do. So I think it’s great for the sport, said Pavlik on the Fury vs. Wilder 2 fight.

The Wilder-Fury 2 fight was good for the sport of boxing for the interest that it created, but the actual fight was disappointing to watch. It wasn’t exciting due to the how lopsided the contest was, and the way it ended was bad.

Fans wanted to see Wilder go out on his shield instead of being saved by his trainer throwing in the towel. In the aftermath of the contest, Wilder’s decision to blame his loss on his legs being weakened from his heavy ring-walk vest looked bad. Pavlik is partially correct about the interest that the Wilder vs. Fury rematch got from fans as being a positive, but nothing good came out of it.

The match was too one-sided for fans to have an interest in seeing a third fight, and they will be fighting again. People want Wilder to step aside to let Fury fight Anthony Joshua, but he’s not going to do that.

Image: Kelly Pavlik doesn't want to see Fury vs. Wilder 3 fight

Wilder made a mistake

“As far as Wilder and the uniform, listen, I do believe that fighters sometimes it ain’t their night and things like that do happen,” said Pavlik. “There’s only one guy out there, and there’s no team. You can’t call ‘time out’ and say, ‘Hey, I’m not feeling right today. Sub them in.’

“But I wouldn’t have said that [about Wilder’s uniform excuse] though, because he [Wilder] set himself up for people [to criticize him], especially in 2020 with social media, it gives a lot of people who want to feel relevant in life the platform to talk mess, you know what I mean? So I would have strayed away from that,” said Pavlik on Wilder’s excuse about his 45-lb ring-walk uniform wearing him down.

Wilder perhaps felt that he had to say something to explain away his defeat to Fury, and the ring-walk vest was a handy explanation. If Wilder really believes what he says, then you can’t blame for telling the fans. Unfortunately, people are so used to losing fighters making excuses after their losses, that they tune them out now.

Nowadays, boxing fans prefer when a fighter takes the high road and doesn’t come up with excuses after they get beat. In Wilder’s case, his loss was so embarrassingly one-sided to Fury that it doesn’t matter what he says. The fans saw Wilder get bludgeoned by Fury, and they’re not believing anything he says to try and lessen the impact.

Breland did the right thing

“I think the stoppage was good,” Pavlik said in expounding on Wilder’s trainer’s decision to throw in the towel in the 7th round when Fury was bludgeoning Deontay. “If the referee had stopped the fight the round before or if Breland had stopped it the round before, I would have been good with that too.

“He [Wilder] was taking shots. I know it’s hard for people because Wilder has so much power, and he has that one punch where he can end a fight. But I saw that he was drained, his energy was down for him and I think it was a great stoppage,” said Pavlik.

Breland did make the right decision in throwing in the towel to stop the fight in the 7th. Wilder was against the ropes, bleeding from his mouth and left ear and had nothing left. Pavlik says he thinks the fight could have been stopped in the 6th, and that’s what a lot of boxing fans are saying as well.

If Wilder was still punching with huge power in the 7th, then it wouldn’t have been as bad to see the fight stopped. Wilder’s power was gone, and Fury was having a field day unloading on him with shots. No matter what Wilder did, he wasn’t able to keep Fury off of him, and he getting badly punished by the 6’9″ British heavyweight.

Fury isn’t a big puncher, but he was still hurting Wilder with his clubbing shots that he nailing him with. Some heavyweights can take shots and not show the negative effects of them. In Wilder’s case, he looked hurt from almost every solid blow that Fury landed.

Image: Kelly Pavlik doesn't want to see Fury vs. Wilder 3 fight

Pavlik doesn’t want to see Fury vs. Wilder 3

“No, I don’t want to see a third one,” said Pavlik on a trilogy match between Fury and Wilder. “I think Fury won both fights, and I think Wilder has guys like Andy Ruiz and Joseph Parker out there for him to fight. Those are still big-name fights and big money fights that I think he can win.

“I think Fury should fight Joshua,” said Pavlik. “Fury won that fight [against Wilder], and he didn’t take much of a beating at all. He doesn’t need any more tune-ups.

“It’s really critical now for the big heavyweight fights to happen in the division if it wants to regain what it was like in the 90s and the late 80s and in the 60s and 70s, then I think it’s important for Fury to take a fight against Joshua because the fans are demanding it. I got Fury [beating Joshua].

“Anything can happen, but I’m picking Fury. I think his skills are good,” said Pavlik in choosing Fury to beat Joshua.

It would be good for the sport of boxing if Wilde did the noble thing and stepped aside so that Joshua can fight Fury. The 60/40 split for the Fury vs. Wilder trilogy match might have something to do why Deontay is taking the fight. He can make a lot of money getting 40% of the purse for the third match with Fury.

Pavlik thinks Wilder should fight Andy Ruiz Jr. or Joseph Parker, but he probably wouldn’t make the same kind of money against either of those guys that he would in taking the third fight with Fury.

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