Tyson Fury set to take on Deontay Wilder

From under the nose of Eddie Hearn and Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury has walked all over the potential mega bout between Wilder and Joshua by signalling his intentions to battle Deontay Wilder later this year.
Whilst the world waited….and waited for AJ and Wilder to get a deal done, it seems Frank Warren and Tyson Fury have hammered out a deal within days, Fury does have the small matter of a fight this month first before things are well and truly finalised but we expect him to get through that with little trouble, if he does then we can look forward to another huge clash in the heavyweight division.

We all have our own reasons for why we believe Joshua v Wilder didn’t get done, some corners are calling it a duck by AJ and that he never really wanted the fight but I see it as something AJ looked at it from a business point of view. This all goes back to Floyd Mayweather Jnr v Manny Pacquiao really, that fight took place in 2015 but it was about 4-5yrs too late but because they allowed the fight to marinate, in the end it became great for business. Had the fight taken place in 2010-2012 it would not have earned each fighter over $100m as it did in 2015. It’s quite possible Joshua or his promoter were thinking the longer they can let this fight build hype, the more money they stand to make. There is also the small matter that Joshua is both younger and less experienced than Wilder, by having a couple of fights more before taking on Wilder, AJ would have earned more valuable ring experience as well as being firmly entrenched in his physical peak and primed to take on Deontay Wilder, who currently is 32 and probably only has a year or two left of his ‘prime’ period. Wilder isn’t a great boxer and he isn’t a great technician, this means he relies more on his physical traits as he is a great athlete, these types of boxers tend to regress more than technical fighters when they find age catching up with them – think Muhammad Ali, think Roy Jones Jnr, both amazing athletes who struggled when they aged and found their reflexes slowing(in Ali’s case he had the smarts to change his style of fighting)

With Wilder possibly facing Fury this year though, we have a mouth watering match up between two giants of the sport – in the physical sense too. Wilder is a tall rangy puncher at 6’7 and Fury is even taller at 6’9 but he is the more ‘pure’ fighter of the two. This is probably Wilder’s best chance at defeating Fury, Fury will be only two fights in to his return to the ring and will still be fighting ring rust especially against a quality opponent such as Wilder, it is a huge step up from facing Seferi and Pianeta. Fury though always presents a unique challenge to his opponents, very rarely they will have faced someone taller than themselves, such as in the case of Wladmir Klitschko who so used to using his taller frame to lean on opponents and fight on the outside behind his jab, he wasn’t afforded that against the taller Tyson Fury and ended up being made to look quite poor, he just couldn’t find Fury. Wilder, accustomed to fighting opponents shorter than him will also be facing someone in Fury who is taller than him. How will Wilder, who isn’t great technically but does that a very sharp jab, try to get close enough to land that huge bomb of his in his right hand? Not only that, the other unique trait Fury has is despite his size, he is actually very swift on his feet, Fury can move and feint very well for a big man, it will not be easy for Wilder to get his timing down, Fury won’t be looking for the knock out either, he will be content to run rings around Wilder and pot shot from the outside and then use his long arms to tie Wilder up and stop him from freeing his arms and letting his hands go.
You get the feeling with Fury he will work something out, but with Wilder’s punching power it only takes one shot to turn the tide, Klitschko ended up being too hesitant pulling the trigger on his famous right hand against Fury, Wilder won’t have that issue, he will be using it plenty, the issue is whether he can catch Fury with it and then if he does, how Fury handles his power. Wilder is also a killer, if he smells you are hurt, he is coming for you and won’t let you off the hook, he will jump all over you with those dangerous punches coming from every angle possible.
Muhammad Ali famously took on the champion Joe Frazier as the 3rd fight after his comeback in the fight of century, Fury might possibly be doing the same against the champion Deontay Wilder. Ali was the champion when he was forced away from the ring and was also 29yrs old after almost 3yrs off, Fury was also the champion before a mini retirement and will turn 30 later this year after the best part of 3yrs away from the ring. Ali lost the fight of the century but if the fight between Fury and Wilder goes ahead, Fury will be hoping that is where the similarities end.

Team Fury?

Team Wilder are firmly in the Everlast corner