Deontay fought Fury with INJURED Bicep, needed surgery afterward

By Boxing News - 04/15/2020 - Comments

By Scott Gilfoid: Deontay Wilder says he suffered a bicep injury during his rematch with Tyson Fury on February 22, and he’s since had surgery to repair the problem. Speaking to Premier Boxing Champions, Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs), Wilder revealed that he had fought Fury with an injured bicep.

Just how much the injury affected Wilder’s game is unknown. The fact that Wilder wasn’t using his right hand during the fight suggests that he was roughly competing at less than 50% on the night.

Would Fury have won if Wilder wasn’t injured?

Fury’s fans won’t like that Wilder is revealing that he had injury now, as they want him to receive full credit for the victory. They’re going to wonder why Wilder didn’t say anything about his bicep problem immediately after the fight instead of waiting until two months later.

That’s the way the 6’7″ Deontay is. He’s a straight shooter, who is going to tell it like it is.  He could have said something earlier right after the fight, but he likely wanted to let Fury have his moment.

Deontay wasn’t throwing right hands against Fury

The bicep injury helps explain why Wilder wasn’t using his right hand very much during his second fight with Fury last February. Other than a few half-hearted attempts at landing his right hand, Wilder mostly was just pawing and covering up.

Wilder doesn’t say at what point the bicep injury occurred. The damage probably took place in round one or two, as he stopped throwing punches almost immediately after the start of the fight.

In round one, Wilder hit Fury with a couple of rights to the head that indicated that we could see an early knockout. However, Wilder then stopped throwing punches, and it looked like something was wrong with his right hand.

The former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder won’t be able to return to training until sometime in May, and then he wants to get ready for trilogy with Fury. The third fight between the two giant heavyweights is supposed to take place in late 2020. That, of course, will depend on the situation in the U.S with the illnesses.

Image: Deontay fought Fury with INJURED Bicep, needed surgery afterward

Wilder undergoing physical therapy on bicep problem

“It’s going well. I’m in therapy,” said Wilder to Premier Boxing Champion Podcast on his bicep injury from the Fury fight. “I ended up injuring it during my last fight. Everything is going well with it, just working on recovering and getting back to full health.

“Hopefully, we can get back to camp and get ready to go again sometime at the end of the year. I can’t work out right now. That’s something I’m looking forward to once I get it healed with my arm.

I’m looking forward to working out. Right now, I’m just sitting back and getting taken care of. That’s not a bad position now,” said Wilder.

The fact that Wilder needed bicep surgery means that he wouldn’t have been able to fight Fury in their previously scheduled rematch date in July. In other words, the fight would have needed to be postponed until the end of the year anyway. As such, it’s not such a big deal after all that the global pandemic has sidetracked the Wilder vs. Fury fight until October because that’s probably when ‘The Bronze Bomber’ will be physically able to fight.

Deontay appears to be taking the high road by not making a big production about his bicep injury. He knows full well that if he talks too much about the injury, boxing fans will see him as coming up with an excuse to explain away his seventh-round knockout loss to Fury from last February.

Bicep injuries are things that happen, and it’s not necessarily an indication that the 34-year-old Wilder has all of a sudden gotten old. Those types of injuries are rare with fighters compared to problems with their hands and elbows.

Will Fury be able to deal with a healthy Wilder?

We’re going to find out in the trilogy match whether Fury can handle a completely healthy Wilder, figuring on all eight cylinders when he gets inside the ring with him. The way that the Fury fought Wilder last February, he would have likely been knocked out quickly if he fought like that in their first fight in 2018.

Fury was coming straight at Wilder and was an easy target for his right shots. But with Wilder injured, he couldn’t throw his heat-seeking missiles. Fury was able to fight aggressively without the risk of being knocked out cold once again.

In the trilogy, Fury will need to have a plan-B to use if Wilder starts dropping him left and right once again. Fury can’t continue to use the Kronk Gym aggressive style of fighting against Wilder if he’s 100% for the fight.

Certainly, Fury will recycle that same game plan for the third fight, thinking that it worked once, it’ll work again. It would be wise for Fury to go back to his defensive style of fighting once he gets hit on the chin by a couple Wilder’s right-hand bombs early on.

Fury will need to change his game plan for a trilogy

I don’t see Fury making it up off the canvas if he gets dropped by Wilder because he’s going to like a tall bowling pin on the night. You don’t fight the way Fury did against Wilder without paying a huge price if he’s healthy.

Usually, when Wilder fights guys that come straight at him the way Fury did, he knocks them out right away. But with Wilder’s bicep injury, he couldn’t use his right hand the way he needed to to make Fury pay the price for his throwback style of fighting.

It would be a good idea for Fury to bring in a second trainer in case his current trainer Sugar Hill Steward’s aggressive game plan, results in him hitting the deck two or three times in the first half of the fight. Fury will need an excellent plan-B to fall back on to avoid getting knocked cleanout.

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