By Scott Gilfoid: Deontay Wilder and WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury made their grand arrivals in Las Vegas on Tuesday for their fight this Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena.
The two heavyweights will be meeting for their trilogy fight on October 9th in a toss-up affair, which could end by knockout. Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) is currently the favorite based on his last fight, but Wilder is expected to be much improved.
Fury vs. Wilder will be shown on ESPN+ pay-per-view and FOX Sports PPV.
The two heavyweights have fought twice, with the first fight in 2018 ending in a 12 round draw and Fury taking the rematch by a seventh round knockout in February 2020.
Fury reveals his game plan for the Wilder trilogy
“No matter what Deontay Wilder does, I’m still going to knock him the f*** out,” said Fury. “Like SugarHill says, ‘Bang and get it over with.’
“I’ve been living in Wilder’s mind rent-free for two years. It has to be crazy to be obsessed with a man like me. We’re going to get straight on the front foot and start trading from round one,” said Fury about his game plan for the trilogy match with Deontay.
Fury is making it clear that he has zero respect for Wilder and believes that the same version of the Bronze Bomber in the last fight will be there on Saturday with no improvements.
The ego that Fury has spun out of control entirely, showing the worry of Wilder having made improvements. Fury could be modern-day General Custer heading into a disaster due to his crazy ego.
Wilder has the perfect opponent for him to take advantage of in Fury, who has lost sense of fear due to self-confidence having spun out of control.
“I see me beating him up and then knocking him out,” said Wilder. “I’m going to put on a great performance Saturday night.”
Wilder seems to have his head on straight, knowing that he’s got a guy in front of him who thinks he can walk on water after their last fight.
“This is his chance to show the second fight was an anomaly, but Fury is going to have something to say about that,” said David Haye to Boxing Social. “It’s a great match-up.
“It’s more 50-50 than everyone says. I think you’ve got a much better Deontay Wilder for the third fight, and I don’t think we’ve got as good a version of Fury for the third fight.
“I think as good as he was for the second fight, he can beat this time around. Plus, he’s got the psychological advantage of how easily he [Fury] beat him,” Haye said.
This fight could be a 50-50 affair, as Haye states, and that’s bad news for Fury because it sounds like he plans on bum-rushing Deontay.
Haye doubts Fury has trained hard
“So when it comes time to do your training and punish yourself and not eat that bagel or whatever it is, you’re thinking, ‘I’m fighting a guy that I battered last time,'” said Haye about Fury.
“You have that donut or whatever it is vs. after the first fight, ‘I was lucky to make the count.’
“I’m not sure if he [Fury] had that fire in his belly going into this training camp. I think he felt that he had to get it out of the way.
“It’s like he didn’t want the fight his team didn’t want the fight. They just can’t wait to get to Sunday to start talking about the big picture.
“That’s not the best energy going into a fight against someone like Wilder, particularly if his right hand was completely null and void in the second fight.
“He landed it a couple of times when he threw it, but it had nothing on it. No meat on it.
“During the fight, I remember him [Wilder] landing two shots and nothing on them. Maybe there was something wrong, we’ll see,” said Haye.
Knowing Fury, he didn’t train as hard as he should have because he’s had so many of his sycophants blowing smoke up his backside 24/7, telling him how great he is.
Deontay will be much improved
“I’ve made no secrets of how heavy he is as a puncher,” said Haye when asked about his sparring with Wilder in the past.
“With his right hand, it’s a different type of power that I’ve felt before. Take that away from him, he’s beatable, but when it’s there, it takes one second to land it. ‘King Kong’ Ortiz was bossing the fight until that one shot landed, and it was good night.
“Tyson Fury is the flag bearer for Britain now. He’s got a fighter in Wilder, who is probably one of the hardest punchers ever and he’s going to need to perform. I know it sounds crazy because the last fight was really easy.
“I’m positive he’s [Deontay] going to be way, way better. As long as he’s mentally prepared, he might have to get off the canvas a couple of times like he did the first time around.
“The same guy he’s [Fury] fighting. Maybe it’s a different guy from the second fight he had. As long as he’s prepared for that.
“The interviews I’ve seen of him and his team, ‘Just batter him.’ Okay, you said that the second time and he was right.
“But as long as he’s physically prepared for it to be a tough slog 12 round up and down affair, he’ll be alright,” said Haye.
If Wilder is 20% better than he was for the first fight, Fury is counting be on his back counting stars by the sixth round on Saturday.
Hopefully, the referee has the sense enough to stop the fight on the spot to get the medical team in there to look Fury over.
Tyson can’t afford to be knocked out cold again
If Wilder comes into Saturday’s fight better than he was in the first contest with Fury in 2018, he can win. A better version of Wilder than the one that essentially knocked Fury out, will likely stop him on Saturday.
Fury cannot afford to be knocked unconscious by Wilder like he was in the first fight because the referee that saved him from being stopped in that fight won’t be working on Saturday.
I’m referring to referee Jack Reiss. He’s not going to be there for Fury if he gets knocked out again to give him a count while he’s asleep.
There’s no referee out there that is going to take the risk of giving Fury a count if he’s knocked out cold like in the 2018 fight.
As such, an improved Wilder may be more than good enough to knock Fury out and have the fight actually stopped.