By Matt Lieberman: Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder III officials have been confirmed for Saturday’s trilogy match between them. WBC heavyweight champion Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) is going to be up against it in fighting with all U.S officials.
All three of the judges and the referee are from the United States, but if Fury fights the way he did last time defeated Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs), it might not matter.
Officials for Saturday’s Fury vs. Wilder III fight:
- Russell Mora – referee
- David Moretti – Judge
- Tim Cheathan – Judge
- Steve Weisfield – Judge
Most boxing fans believe that Fury should win this fight with ease by outboxing Wilder, and then going for the knockout when he tires at the midpoint of the fight.
If Fury is careful in the fair half of the fight to avoid Wilder’s big right-hand bombs, he’s got a great shot of winning this contest.
This is likely the last time Fury and Wilder will fight each other, as Top Rank promoter Bob Arum wants to take his fighter towards matches against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua.
Arum talks about Wilder’s cheating allegations
“I don’t know who is advising Wilder because it’s absurd,” said Bob Arum to Boxing Social about Deontay going off on Fury with cheating allegations at the press conference on Wednesday.
“Tyson is a very smart guy and he said, ‘If you want to make an excuse and blame me and somebody else, pick one thing and say it and say maybe it happened.’
“If you pick six unrelated things, who is going to believe you? ‘My cornerman drugged my water. Tyson put rocks in his gloves.’
“Nonsense things. If it’s one thing and it’s nonsense, that’s a matter of opinion, but if it’s six incredible, who is going to believe you?
“I like Tyson’s chances and we’ll see,” said Arum.
Wilder took the bait during the press conference on Wednesday and started talking about Fury’s so-called cheating from their rematch a year ago.
By the end of the press conference, Wilder sounded like he was paranoid and reaching for excuses to explain what happened. It wasn’t a good look.
Teofimo Lopez sees Wilder having a tough time
“It’s a good fight because Tyson got dropped real bad in the 12th round in the first fight, and then he stopped Deontay in the second fight,” said Teofimo Lopez to Fighthype. “So a trilogy is supposed to happen.
“I believe we’ll see some difference in Wilder. He’s been training a lot and working on his style, trying to be technical. But it’s very hard when you’re in that style your whole career, from 18-years-old until 35. It’s a big, big change that you change your style within a year.
“No warm-up fights. You’re going back to the same dude [Fury] that you’re team [Mark Breland] quit on. They quit on you on that because I know he was going to keep going. That’s what a fighter does, but his team made that call.
“I think it’s going to be better than both fights that have happened,” said Teofimo.
