“I’m sick of saying it. There has only ever been one, and there only can ever be one who is capable of owning all the belts and that is me, ‘The Gypsy King.’”
— Tyson Fury’s pre-fight prediction
In their first meeting, Tyson Fury shattered Deontay Wilder’s spirit by crashing to the canvas, but then incredibly going where no Wilder opponent had ever gone before — back on his feet and, for the rest of the round, giving more than he got.
That broke Wilder’s spirit.
The second time they met, Fury overwhelmed him, and that broke Wilder’s confidence.
But the rematch clause gives him this one last, unexpected chance. There’s a lesson here for both fighters.
“The one thing I don’t do is underestimate anybody,” Fury said. “Whether it’s the smallest man in the room or the fattest man in the room, I’ll never underestimate anyone.
“Make no mistake: This will be Deontay Wilder’s make-or-break moment in his life. Anybody can lose a fight, anybody can have a bad night.
“But this is his make-or-break fight,” Fury added. “He’s about a 3-1 underdog. He’s got everything to gain and nothing to lose. He has a ferocious right hand. All that makes him the most dangerous heavyweight on the planet. In my opinion, Wilder beats the rest of the division comfortably — but he cannot beat me.
“Wilder is a very dangerous task, so don’t ask me who I will fight after this. Let me get through Wilder first and then, on Sunday morning, we can talk about who I’ll fight next. Right now, I don’t give a damn.”
There are few heavyweight rivalries in which the fighters met three or more times. Start with Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansson, who nailed Floyd with a right he called the Hammer of Thor. He nailed him again and again and knocked him down seven times and took his title. Since no heavyweight at the time had ever regained a lost title, nobody thought about a rematch. But they fought two more times, and Floyd won them both by knockout.
Ken Norton broke Muhammad Ali’s jaw the first time they fought. Ali won a narrow decision in the rematch but in the third fight, Norton was bent on revenge. He piled up an early lead, then stuck out his tongue and taunted Ali. He didn’t throw a meaningful punch and that cost him the decision.
Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield gave us three dandies. In the first, they went to-to-toe for the last three rounds. Bowe won, got out-boxed in the second fight, then won the third by knockout.
And finally, there was Ali vs. Joe Frazier. In the first fight, they fought as though deputized by their fans to represent the pro-Vietnam and anti-Vietnam partisans that split the country. Frazier dropped Ali in the last round and won the fight. The second, with no title on the line, went decisively to Ali.
The third in the broiling heat of Manila, was the greatest heavyweight fight in history. They went 14 rounds. Frazier couldn’t come out for 15 and Ali barely made it that far to win.
Ezzard Charles and Joe Walcott fought four title fights and each won twice.
The point is that all of these multiple heavyweight fights were exceptional. It just may be, therefore, that Fury and Wilder — who will meet for the third time — could give us that kind of night. You’d have to look into Wilder’s head to speculate on that.
Fury insists that from what he has seen, Wilder left something in the ring when Fury overwhelmed him in their second fight.
“I think when I got up in the third fight and he was prancing around the ring because he thought it was over, that just made him a weaker character and less of a man and less of a fighter because when you get beat, you get beat. Shake the man’s hand and move on. Lots of fighters have lost. Muhammad Ali lost fights. Mike Tyson lost fights.
“But it’s what they do after they lose that makes them who they are. When some people lose, they have to make up an excuse for why they lost. That’s what Wilder is doing — looking for a reason to convince himself he can do anything better.
“It’s none of my concern about where the belts are as long as my belt is strapped around my waist. The rest of them, I don’t care where they go, because there’s only one man that can bring them all back and that’s me. There has only ever been one, and only can ever be one, and that is me, Tyson Fury, The Gypsy King.”
Jerry Izenberg is Columnist Emeritus for The Star-Ledger. He can be reached at [email protected].
