By Scott Gilfoid: Deontay ”Bronze Bomber’ Wilder says he’s ready for Tyson Fury to start in where he left off with his roughhouse tactics tonight, and he plans on fighting even “dirtier” than him if he goes that route.
Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) is hoping WBC heavyweight champion Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) keeps it clean, following the Marquees of Queensbury boxing rules.
Will the referee stop the fouling tonight?
But if Fury does start with the fouling with rabbit punching and other niceties, Wilder says join in and turn the fight into a war. Gilfoid can’t wait to see how the referee Russell Mora handles the back and forth fouling tonight.
Will Mora stand there uselessly, choosing the laissez-faire approach to officiating that we saw from referee Kenny Bayless last year in Fury’s foul-plagued win over Deontay, or will he take control and start penalizing left & right to gain control over the fight?
If tonight is going to be a rabbit punching & low-blow affair, it’ll be interesting to see whether Fury can prevail.
The technique that Fury showed on his rabbit punching was impeccable last year. I’m not sure that Wilder can match Fury with his mastery of that illegal punch.
How about Fury’s high trunks?
One thing that’s been overlooked in the run-up to this fight is whether Fury will have his trunk pulled up to passed his ribcage or not like he did last time.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fighter with their trunks pulled up almost to their sternum before, but Fury had them hiked up to where there was no possibility of Wilder hitting him in the breadbasket.
Team Wilder may need to let the referee know that Fury can’t be pulling his trunks so high because it’s ridiculous.
Deontay ready for Fury’s dirty tactics
“I’m very much prepared, I’m very much bigger, and I lift my than his body weight,” said Wilder to 78SPORTSTV when asked if he’s ready for Fury’s roughhouse tactics.
“I got stronger and bigger for those different tactics. So, we’re very much prepared to get even dirtier. If he gets dirty, I’m going to get even dirtier.
“In that ring, it’s no play, play for me. This is business. They tried to kill me the last time around, and a lot of people allowed him to try to do so because of what I stand for and what I represent.
“So, I’m more than ready and prepared. You seen so much nervous energy he has that he’s been releasing and displaying. He’s already releasing nervous energy, so when he gets in that ring, he’s going to be all over the place,” said Deontay about Fury’s potential fouling & dirty tactics.
It sounds like Wilder hasn’t been fully coached on fighting fire with fire, does it?
Wilder can be as strong as a bull, but if he’s brained with rabbit punches and grabbed like a Sea Lamprey all night by Fury, he’s not going to last long.
In an ideal world, the referee will first penalize and then disqualify Fury for his rabbit punching. But even if the referee gets Fury to stop with the rabbit punching, he’s still going to attach himself to Wilder like a giant-sized Sea Lamprey and draining him by leaning on him with all of his 277-lb weight.
If Wilder hasn’t been appropriately coached on how to defeat Fury’s rabbit punching and excessive clinching, he’s going to lose again.
Wilder wants Fury to try and BULLY him
“I want him to come forward with me; I want him to try and bully me,” said Deontay. “I want that to happen. Boy, do I have something for him.
“The thing about it, they don’t know how to train for this Wilder. They look at clips; they look at different things, maybe what people may have said.
“Sometimes when we put out clips, these are old clips, and we know they pay attention to everything we post and do.
“He’s [Fury] definitely frightened because he doesn’t know how to plan for me. One thing that’s for sure, he’s showed me everything he had.
“There’s nothing he’s going to change up or do. He gave me his best of him, but he hasn’t seen the 100% best of me. No one has, and that’s the scary part about it.
“I’ve always come in with injuries or something wrong with me. Some people say, ‘Why did you do that? I’m a warrior. A lot of these guys won’t even fight with a broken hand,” said Deontay.
Wilder doesn’t need to worry about whether Fury will come straight at him looking to start with the bullying/roughhouse tactics because that’s a given.
Fury will do what he did last time because it WORKED, and it’ll work again if the referee is just there in body only, not doing his job.
It doesn’t matter if Wilder can bench press Fury’s weight. The real question is, how are you going to deal with getting fouled?
What is Wilder going to do if the referee does nothing to stop Fury from fouling like last time? Grabbing Fury and bench pressing him isn’t an option. Wilder will have to get in the mud with Fury and slop around with him and make it ugly if he wants to win tonight.
Wilder to use his new size on Fury
“We gained the weight but kept the speed at the same time, so we balanced it out,” said Wilder about him bulking up to 238.
“We didn’t want to bulk up, and I’ve never been this big before and then all of a sudden and not really feeling this way, and now we get surprised to the new weight.
“We wanted to gain the weight and keep the speed at the same time. It worked out great for me, and we’ve seen the results in sparring.
“It’s going to be amazing, and I’m looking forward to displaying it to the world. The body looks good; I feel great.
“We’re ready to go. One thing that’s for sure, he [Fury] don’t want it as bad as I.
“He’s not trained as hard as I’ve trained, and he’s not sacrificed as hard as I’ve sacrificed. I’m putting it all on the line.
“So definitely expect a great fight while it lasts. I can’t see it no other way than my hands being raised in the air at the end of the night and the announcer saying, ‘
“And the new two-time heavyweight champion of the world, Deontay Wilder,” said Deontay.
Fury isn’t much of a wrestler, so Wilder’s extra size probably won’t help him. It might help if Wilder can use his added muscle to try and PRY Fury off him if he doesn’t let go from a prolonged clinch.
The referee is supposed to be the one that separates the two fighters, and they’re also supposed to warn a fighter if they’re holding excessively to game the system.
The referee didn’t do anything last time to prevent Fury from using excessive holding & leaning to use as a tactic to drain him. If Fury had warned and penalized, he would have had to stop with that strategy early on.
But the fact that he was getting away with rabbit punching, he would have had that as the back option if he couldn’t clinch nonstop to drain Wilder.
