By Scott Gilfoid: David Haye doesn’t understand the comment made this week by former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in saying that he doesn’t view Tyson Fury as a world champion after losing to him last February.
As far as Haye is concerned, Fury’s 7th round TKO win over Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) on February 22 was as conclusive as you can get.
However, Wilder revealed that he injured his right biceps during his fight with Fury, and there were additional problems that he’ll discuss later that kept him from winning. Wilder says it wasn’t the real him inside the ring, and that he was a “ZOMBIE” during the fight.
The 6’7″ Wilder’s performance against Fury was a shock to many boxing fans, who never would have imagined seeing the American loss the way he did. Going into the fight, fans expected Wilder to be the one scoring the knockout, not Fury.
We don’t know what kind of impact Wilder’s bicep injury had in the fight. Was he only fighting at 20% capacity? I mean, if a world-class sprinter suffers a hamstring pull during a race, he’s not going to win, is he?
Haye confused by Wilder’s comments about Fury
“What does he mean he doesn’t recognize him [Fury] as a real champion? Maybe Fury hits harder than we all thought,” said Haye to Boxing Social about Wilder’s comment that he doesn’t view Fury as a world champion.
“I don’t understand that because that [Fury’s win over Wilder] was about as conclusive as you can get, really. I don’t know [why Wilder said that]. He really said that? He [Wilder] doesn’t recognize him as a real champion?
“Maybe he doesn’t feel he didn’t turn up, and that Fury beat a very, very poor version of himself, although it was technically him in the ring.
“It’s an interesting one. I don’t know. He said after the fight, ‘The better man won,’ in the ring, didn’t he? And he said he wants to do it again. So I don’t know what to say about that.
“It looked like the better man won on the night to me. He’s got a chance to do it again. He has the perfect opportunity to prove that back,” said Haye on Wilder.
Well, did Haye ever stop to consider for a second that Wilder was taking the high road after the fight by saying that Fury was the ‘better man.’ It could be that Wilder didn’t want to muddy the water at the time by revealing that he’d fought with an injured bicep, which later required surgery to repair.
It was a class move by Wilder not to immediately reveal that he had fought with an injured bicep because it gave Fury the chance to get his 15 minutes of fame.
But now that the smoke has cleared from the fight, Wilder wants to unveil the curtain to reveal what really happened. Fury’s boxing fans are hopping mad about Wilder, finally telling the truth about why he lost.
Wilder can prove loss was a fluke
“If he goes out and knocks Fury out in one round, then ‘that was the real Deontay Wilder,” said Haye. “Sorry my bad.’ His [Wilder] comments can only be reflected upon after the third fight; then, we’ll know if he was talking complete nonsense or then we’ll understand that wasn’t the real champ. The real champion showed up and did what he had to do.
“But in looking at that last fight, unless something was drastically wrong. He didn’t have much success in that fight whatsoever. I’m intrigued to see the rematch. Sometimes things happen in battles where you fight ten times, and sometime you’ll win nine of those, but one time [the other fighter will win].
“Any big guy like that, the records, the power, the height, the costumes, and the excitement of the last fight and the first fight. These guys can fight ten times, and maybe you’ll get different results. But in looking at that previous fight, it seemed [like a mismatch],” said Haye.
Yes, the third fight between Deontay and Tyson WILL prove who the real champion is. After two clashes, they’re arguably 1-1 with Wilder appearing to knock Fury out in the first fight, and then losing the second one due to his bicep problem.
These are some of the problems that caused Wilder to lose to Fury:
- Bicep injury
- Hurt by rabbit punches
- Legs weakened by heavy ring-walk costume.
- His weight
Fury vs. Wilder 3: Who wins the third fight?
“I’m a fan of Wilder, I’m a fan of Fury, and they’re both warriors,” said Haye. “They’re both big powerful men with different skill sets, but their styles gel. The first fight their styles gelled beautifully, and in the second fight, their styles gelled beautifully. In the third fight, what’s going to happen?
“Is Fury going to be overconfident going in, thinking he’s got his measure, and Wilder comes in at a different level and shocks him with one of those big massive shots?
“If I’m a betting man, I’m delighted I didn’t take that bet [with Tyson’s dad John Fury] against Fury that day because I would have lost that pretty quickly,” said Haye about the Wilder vs. Fury 2 rematch.
“I would have known that I would have lost that after the first minute of the fight. But I can see why his [Fury] dad was so confident because his dad knows a thing or do about boxing,” said Haye.
The third Wilder vs. Fury fight should close the chapter on his rivalry once and for all. As long as there’s no injuries or controversies due to the scoring and fouling that’s done in the fight, we should get a real winner in the next match.
Fury needs to keep it clean if he wants to receive credit because if he hammers Wilder with rabbit shots all night without being penalized by the referee, it’s going to look bad. The referee needs to go over the old rule book and read on the part where it discusses rabbit punching because that’s something that could impact the third clash.
