By Andrew Peters: The keenly awaited heavyweight title fight between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury was delayed after Fury allegedly caught Covid-19. An interesting question is – was the delay a good thing or a bad thing?
Ticket sales were doing poorly. This comes for a couple of reasons. Firstly, this rivalry was sorted in the eyes of most boxing fans after the first two fights. Wilder was decisively defeated by a masterful Fury in their second encounter.
Most fans don’t care to see another one-sided affair. Secondly, Wilder has refused to pull his weight in marketing the third bout. He refused to speak at the press conference, most likely because he’s afraid of engaging in mental warfare.
The undisputed fight can’t happen until AJ fights Usyk. That encounter has the potential to be an interesting one. Although most fear that Usyk is too small, his boxing IQ is undeniable.
More clarity will be found towards the end of the year about the future of the heavyweight division in this regard. Unless, of course, Wilder manages to get past Fury, as unlikely as it is, since a fourth fight between the two will be required given the 1-1-1 scoreline.
Wilder has more time to train. Wilder gave one of the poorest showings of any champion in the last fight against Fury. He was shocked by Fury’s ring generalship, totally incapable of formulating a response. Wilder fought a dirty fight in both of his encounters with Fury – assaulting Fury with rabbit shots, low blows, and illegal punches.
Indeed Wilder has earned a reputation as a dirty fighter in recent times – other examples include the barrage of Luis Ortiz with his forearms that lead to his KO victory.
He would not have beaten Ortiz without these shots. In spite of these dirty tactics, Wilder still couldn’t even come close against Fury. He needs every second he can get to prepare.
This delay might be a blessing for him – it might give him sufficient time to avoid a knockout in the second round – he might be knocked out in the third round instead.