Scott Christ Deontay Wilder can knock out any man alive. He’s had 19 rounds to try against Tyson Fury and hasn’t done it. Actually, I suppose maybe he kinda did the one time, but it somehow didn’t end the fight. If that shot didn’t put Fury away, what can?
I don’t “hate” Wilder the way some people do. I enjoy watching any guy who can punch this ferociously hard, who is never truly out of a fight. But Fury didn’t just pick-and-peck and box around him in the rematch, he took the fight to him and kicked his ass. That’s just a fact. And I worry that Wilder has revealed himself a fighter who simply can’t handle real adversity. Fury asks big questions of opponents, and Deontay has just not had the answers. Maybe Malik Scott has fixed some of Deontay’s approach and they have a great game plan and the big man goes out there and wipes Tyson out — even if Malik has fixed nothing and is, as some suspect, just the right “yes” man for the moment, Wilder always has the punch. But I don’t think he can beat Tyson Fury. He got a Fury operating at maybe 65-70 percent capacity in 2018 and didn’t beat him. He definitely didn’t in 2020. I don’t think he does in 2021, either. And I think Tyson will more or less repeat what he did last time out. Fury TKO-8
Wil Esco I’m going to spare you all the suspense and just start by saying I’m picking Tyson Fury to win this fight. I’m sure there are plenty of ways to view this trilogy match, but I generally like to keep things as simple as possible which leads me to two standout points: 1) Fury clearly outboxed Wilder in their first fight; and 2) Fury clearly outfought Wilder in their second fight. If Wilder can neither outbox nor outfight Fury, what exactly is his path to victory?
Yes, it’s possible that Wilder detonates an explosive right hand on Fury to abruptly end the fight, but Wilder did in fact land his power on Fury the first time around and Fury still managed to survive. So omitting the much-discussed ‘puncher’s chance’ – which I won’t completely dismiss as a legitimate chance for Wilder – I think Wilder is going to have a hard time finding success here. The even bigger problem for Wilder is that he still can’t box going backwards and with Fury’s trainer saying he intends to come in even heavier for this rematch, I think their game plan is going to be to put Wilder on his heels and make him deal with both size and pressure from the start, which I expect will quickly take a toll on Wilder’s toothpick legs. Wilder’s state of mind has been peculiar even since losing to Fury, so I’m quite interested to see how he takes this next beating. Fury TKO-7
Patrick L. Stumberg It’s hard to overstate just how thoroughly Fury figured Wilder out. Not only would he have won their first fight with competent judging, he entered the rematch with an entirely different approach and kicked his ass from pillar to post. There’s not a single version of Wilder we’ve seen that can consistently beat Fury at this point; unless he and Malik Scott cooked up something special, Fury’s going to embarrass him again.
And no, he and Scott didn’t cook up something special. Wilder’s 40 fights into his pro career and has spent the last 19 months soaking in delusion that Scott seems more than happy to enable. He is what he is: a uniquely gifted puncher content to waste said gifts by throwing five punches a round and neglecting all but the most basic of technique. This last as long as Fury wants it to and not a second more. Fury TKO-6
And the staff winner is… Tyson Fury v Deontay Wilder – News Conference Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images Tyson Fury (3-0)!
