By Tim Royner: Tyson Fury reacted quickly in responding on social media to the comments made by former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder to Premier Boxing Champions on Thursday in talking about his loss last February.
Wilder revealed that it “wasn’t me” inside the ring with Fury that night and that he was just a “zombie.” Wilder added that he fought with a biceps injury that he suffered during the fight. He had surgery on the problem. Wilder also said that he doesn’t view “Fury as a champion.”
No doctors note
Wilder hasn’t supplied any medical documentation on his biceps injury to the media so they can verify whether he had an arm problem during the bout.
Fury (30-0-1, 21 K.O.s) stopped Wilder (42-1-1, 41 K.O.s) in the 7th round to capture his WBC heavyweight title on February 22 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight was shown on Fox Sports and ESPN Pay-Per-View in the U.S. and on B.T. Sports PPV in the U.K.
Fury reacts to Wilder’s comments
“Keep letting yourself down @bronzembomber. It’s sad. It was you I smashed, that’s the truth. Just admit it and move on. It’s just a fight. You win some; you lose some. That’s boxing, pal,” said Fury on his Instagram site.
Fury wants Wilder just to admit that he lost, and take the high road by not coming up with excuses to explain away the defeat. Only Wilder would know for sure if he was dealing with a problem during the fight that prevented him from being his best.
Initially, Wilder claimed that his legs were weakened from the heavy ring-walk vest that he wore before te fight. Now we hear from Wilder that he has a biceps injury that required surgery.
Wilder says he has more information that he’ll reveal at a later time for why he wasn’t his best during the fight. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait on that.
Wilder’s comments on fight
“Tyson Fury knows that wasn’t me. I know that wasn’t me,” said Wilder on Premier Boxing Champions Podcast. “Everyone in boxing knows that wasn’t the REAL Deontay Wilder. I don’t see Fury as a champion. He isn’t a champion yet. We got one fight left.”
So there it is. Wilder doesn’t view Fury as a champion yet, and there’s nothing you can do about that. If Wilder can change things around in the third fight, then he’ll prove all the things that he said were true. But until then, boxing fans will assume that Wilder is just making excuses for why he lost the fight.
Arum: Fury exposed Wilder’s weaknesses
“He’s making excuses for his performance against Fury,” said Bob Arum of Top Rank to IFL TV. “I don’t pay attention to that. I don’t think anyone does. He gotten beaten. Maybe he can do better if he fights him again. I believe Fury exposed Wilder’s weaknesses, which if you get on top of him and pressure him, then he can’t retaliate with his one weapon. His right-hand knockout punch.
If you press him, and that’s what Tyson practiced going into the fight, then you take away his right hand. Once you take his right hand away, he’s not a good boxer, and he’s not a good technician. He just has a right hand. If you take his right hand away, then you disarm him.
“It’s as simple as that. It’s like a guy that you’re facing off with [in being held up]. If you take away the gun, then you can beat the hell out of him. I don’t know where it’s coming from,” said Arum about Wilder’s excuses about his loss. “He’s a proud athlete, and he hasn’t come to grips yet. With what happened in the fight, his right hand gotten taken away,” said Arum.
Wilder has respectable power with his left hand, but it’s not enough to hurt Fury unless he catches him clean with it.
It looked like Wilder got off to a lousy start against Fury, and he was never able to come back from that. Wilder was hurt in the earliest moments of the clash from a right-hand punch from Fury. That was the beginning of the end for the 6’7″ Wilder, as he couldn’t comfortable. He had blood leaking out of his left ear, and his balance was gone.
Wilder needs to re-arm himself
“Can he devise a strategy where he’s able to re-arm himself with that fantastic right-hand punch that he has, I don’t believe so. I feel that Fury has found a key to beating Deontay Wilder by pressing him, throwing a lot of punches at him, and, in effect, beat him up and disarm him. If you take away the right hand, Deontay Wilder is just an ordinary fighter.
“Yeah, I think that’s a very intelligent response from Tyson,” said Arum. “Tyson is a very intelligent guy. He understands boxing, he understands fighters, and his response to Wilder is right on,” said Arum.
Fury did a superb job of making Wilder miss with his big power punches. With Wilder missing all of his big homerun punches, Fury was able to close the distance and club him with massive blows.
What Fury’s trainers discovered is that Wilder needs leverage to throw his right-hand power shots. So by crowding Wilder, Fury took away his power, and he was able to bludgeon him with shots in close. That strategy worked perfectly against Wilder to neutralize his power and get the better of him inside.
We’ll have to see if Wilder will be able to come up with a game plan to keep Fury from using the same tactics for the third fight. You must believe that Fury’s trainers aren’t going to want to tinker too much with the game plan from the previous battle.
It worked once; they’ll use it again and force Wilder to prove that he knows how to stop the 6’9″ Fury with crowding tactics. If Wilder knew how to throw an uppercut like the one that Lennox Lewis had in his arsenal, Fury would be in trouble against him. Fury would need to fight much differently.
