Tyson Fury is a gigantic Irishman who looks like he should be able to move mountains with single shots. But ?The Gypsy King? fancies himself a slickster, an ?Ali-esque? boxer who is clever at throwing opponents off-kilter with movement, timing, and herky-jerky mannerisms that look to be somewhere between traditional feints and brain twitches.
Deontay Wilder, on the other hand, is tall and long, bordering on spindly. Before one sees him fight, one imagines a jab machine, utilizing his massive reach to keep opponents nullified at long distance. It?s hard to imagine looking at a young Wilder and not turning him into a jab-based boxer. The reality, though, is that Wilder?s jab is less than non-existent, it?s downright jarring in its absence. The defending WBC champ, not Fury, is the one moving mountains with single shots.
Neither fighter is what they appear to be, but both have fought their ways to being in the spot they find themselves in now?one win away from wresting the heavyweight top dog spot from three-belt champ Anthony Joshua, who appears to be too busy counting bags of cash these days to worry about actually follow through on negotiations.
Saturday?s winner at Staples Center in Los Angeles will have a strong case for being the no. 1 heavyweight in the world.
Wilder holds the WBC world title belt, seven defenses into his reign. Fury at one point had all three remaining belts before a battle with mental illness and substance abuse cost him his titles and led to more than two-and-a-half years of inactivity. He still, however, holds the lineal heavyweight title, something which makes him, in some eyes, just as much a world champ as Wilder or Joshua.
At the very least, the winner of Saturday?s clash will be co-no. 1, alongside Joshua, and will become a ?must fight? opponent for the UK?s favorite attraction.
But the jockeying for top heavyweight recognition will go out the window once the actual fight begins and fists start flying.
Fury will no doubt employ the style he has comes to embrace as his signature approach. He will box on the outside, flicking out a jab and working to throw Wilder off-balance, which, at first look, wouldn?t appear to be that tough a task against an overly aggressive fighter already burdened with poor footwork and balance.
But Wilder is no Wladimir Klitschko and Fury will not have the same experience boxing ?The Bronze Bomber? as he did against ?Dr. Steelhammer,? who responded to Fury?s at-a-distance boxing with caution and indecision. Wilder is wild, bold and full of a (maybe) false sense of security whereas Klitschko is conservative, careful, and cerebral by nature.
A boxing stylist, Fury will be bum-rushed and bloodied up, order will be chaos. And, sooner or later the Irishman will be hit hard and buzzed.
Then, perhaps the biggest x-factor in the fight will present itself. Does Tyson Fury have the power to beat back the two-fisted challenge of Deontay Wilder? Those are questions that can?t be answered until both fighters are already in the thick of battle.
As trainer and expert analyst Naazim Richardson said recently when asked for his pick in the fight, Fury may win every round of the fight?right up until he gets knocked out.
Nothing Fury has faced will have prepared him for what?s to come this Saturday. Wilder, even full of flaws and imperfections, is deadly. More hand grenade than bazooka blast, the Alabama native explodes with a wild offense that is hard to defend, especially for a fighter like Fury who would prefer a nice, controlled fire over a blazing inferno.
Things should get real interesting Saturday night at Staples Center, especially once the boxing match becomes a fight.
