By Allan Fox: Deontay Wilder has no other choice but to face Tyson Fury in an immediate rematch if he doesn’t want to be forgotten and pushed to the background, according to Shawn Porter. He says former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) would be written off by boxing fans if he doesn’t take the third fight with Fury.
Porter believes Wilder can beat Fury if he makes some adjustments in his game, and then force a fourth fight with hm. However, he’s not saying what specifically Wilder needs to do for him to beat Fury, but it makes sense for him to come in lighter than last time.
Wilder suffered an embarrassing 7th round TKO defeat to Fury last February, and he looked overmatched. Although Wilder appeared to be in good condition, the way he fought was every bit as bad as Andy Ruiz Jr. did in his defeat against Anthony Joshua last December. You can argue Wilder looked far worse because there was nothing he did right against Fury.
If Wilder doesn’t take the immediate rematch, the fans and the media will find another fighter that they believe can contend with the unbeaten Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs), and they’ll focus on that person alone.
Wilder would then be pushed to the margins and forgotten as yesterday’s news. By facing Fury in an immediate rematch, Wilder has a chance to right the wrongs of what happened last February in his 7th round knockout loss.
Wilder has time to prepare for Fury
“I’ve said that he should go straight back into the rematch, but obviously that was before this quarantine happened,” said Porter to IFL TV on Wilder needing to face Fury in an immediate rematch.
“Now, he has time to get prepared for Tyson Fury, or he has time to take on another fight. The reason prior to this quarantine I said fight Tyson Fury immediately is because I know how boxing works.
“If you don’t take the fight with Tyson Fury, people are going to write you off. First, they’re going to say, ‘He was scared to take the rematch.’ Then they’re going to say, ‘He didn’t have the skills, he’s going to get beat again so on and so forth.’ Boxing will completely write you off,” said Porter on Wilder.
The quarantine could help Wilder if he uses the time to prepare for the trilogy match with Fury. Wilder has a lot of time to prepare for the third fight, perhaps the rest f the year even. That could work in Wilder’s favor if Fury isn’t in the kind of shape he was for their rematch last February.
It’s not going to be easy for Wilder to deal with Fury’s massive size advantage. Let’s assume that Wilder comes into the trilogy match at 215 pounds, which is a great weight for him.
Deontay doesn’t deserve to be in the background
“They’ll find the next guy that can contend with Tyson Fury,” said Porter. “And then they’ll start writing about all that, and leave him [Wilder] in the background. I didn’t want him to fall into the background, and I don’t think he’s a fighter that deserves to be in the background.
“I really don’t think he’s a fighter that you can put in a background, but that’s the way the business of boxing works. The business of boxing works with, ‘Who’s going to make me the most money? That’s who I’m going to promote.’ So if Deontay wasn’t going to fight Tyson immediately, they were going to say, ‘Who else can we make money with?’
“And they would promote all of that, and leave him [Wilder] in the background. I didn’t want that to happen,” said Porter.
Porter is right about Wilder being replaced by another fighter to take on Fury if he didn’t force the rematch. Assuming Wilder didn’t execute his rematch clause in his contract, Fury would likely wind up facing someone like Dillian Whyte, and he’d receive all the hype. It doesn’t matter that Whyte is in the class as Dereck Chisora in terms of talent.
Wilder’s options for his next fight would be limited if he didn’t take the trilogy with Fury. His management at PBC probably wouldn’t throw him in with a good fighter, and that would hurt his chances of redeeming himself. If Wilder were to chose not to take the rematch with Fury, he would need to face a good opponent if he wanted to make fans forget about his loss.
Beating Fury not impossible
“I do think he can make some adjustments and come back and make that a great three-Peat and possibly win, and wind up fighting Tyson Fury a fourth time,” said Porter of Wilder. “So even now, I think this quarantine works to his advantage because he has more time to make some wrongs right, and make some adjustments and better prepared for the rematch,” said Porter about Wilder.
He fights well in the 212 to 215 lb region. But if Fury comes into their third clash weighing over 270 lbs again, Wilder be giving away close to 50 pounds. Fury isn’t the biggest puncher, but the weight that’s carrying now will make his shots more powerful.
When you got a big guy that weighs over 270 lbs like Fury, you don’t want to stand in front of him and let him use that size on you. You’ve got to make him use his feet and move that weight around. Wilder didn’t do that in the last bout with Fury.
He stood against the ropes and let Fury club him with looping punches that frequently landed to the side and back of his head. Fury’s height and reach allowed him to land shots to the vulnerable areas of Wilder’s head, and that significantly contributed to his problems during the fight.
The boxing world would still hype Whyte up, and there would be a lot of interest in a fight between him and Fury. In the meantime, Wilder would be viewed as finished goods, and a lot of fans would forget about him. He would be forgotten the way that many fighters are when they lose badly to someone.
