As there always seems to be in the build up to many of
the biggest fights/events in the sport of Boxing, the prelude to the third
encounter between undefeated two-time Heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury and
former WBC Heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder was certainly not void of
hype, trash talking between the two fighters, and of course the numerous “What
If” scenarios and debates amongst both experts and fans as to how the third
fight between the two would play out.
Such scenarios and “What If’s are often covered in various pre-fight
writings penned by those of us who cover the sport including yours truly. No
matter how much one analyzes what may occur when two fighters enter the ring to
do battle, sometimes even the most experienced writers/journalists/historians/commentators
can be surprised by what takes place. Although some would say that oftentimes
such hype prior to a major fight can exceed what actually occurs on fight night
and that indeed can be the case, there are times where the fight does the hype
that preceded it justice.
This is exactly what happened on October 9th
when Fury entered the ring to defend the WBC World Heavyweight championship
against the man he took the championship from in February 2020, Deontay Wilder.
In
previewing this bout, this observer stated that it was my view that it was
hard to envision Wilder becoming a more technical fighter in just one fight
given the long period between fights and the fact that he had not fought in
over twenty months due largely to both the ongoing COVID-19 global epidemic and
the legal battle which preceded this third encounter, but to my surprise and I
think anyone who looks at things with an objective mindset, Wilder began this
fight with a strategy we did not see in the first two bouts, by attacking
Fury’s body, most notably with his jab.
While some, particularly casual fans may not see the
value in this approach, I felt it carried much of the tempo in the first two
rounds as the former champion, now challenger was able to use what was for a
time a consistent jab and mixing in right hands to the champion’s body to keep
Fury at distance where he had trouble establishing his own tempo. It was this
approach that I felt earned Wilder the first two rounds by simply showing
patience. For a fighter that has been known primarily for his devastating
punching power and not for technique, this was in a lot of ways showing that
Wilder could add new elements to his skillset.
Although I was impressed with Wilder’s approach, it was
not long before the third encounter went in another direction that was arguably
more entertaining if you are a casual fan. In round three, the challenger would
be caught by a Fury combination highlighted with a right hand to the head. As I
watched this fight, I commented on social media that Wilder made one mistake
and for a moment it appeared Wilder was both hurt and that the ebb and flow was
firmly in the champion’s favor. Unlike the second encounter, which gradually
became more one-sided as it progressed in Fury’s favor, this time Wilder
responded as in round four still showing signs of being hurt in the previous
round, he decked Fury hard with a right hand that sent the champion down near a
corner of the ring.
As he had done when Wilder had knocked him down in the
first of their three encounters, Fury did get up. Despite this, Fury was clearly hurt and
moments later Wilder would score his second knockdown of the bout by dropping
Fury with another right hand to the head. Some might say that he benefited from
a slow count by Referee Russell Mora, who had to stop midway through his count
of Fury to tell Wilder to get back to a neutral corner. At this point in the
fight, I will be honest with the reader that I was very surprised that Fury was
able to beat the count after the second knockdown and that the fight was able
to continue.
It was at this point however, that the fight got away from
elements of technique and turned into a slugfest between two big men. While a
slugfest is a type of fight that will always garner more attention, I felt that
after scoring two knockdowns of the champion, Wilder got away from what had
worked well for him in the first two rounds, which led to the success he was
able to have in landing offense to the head, the body work. In fairness, it should
be noted as this observer has often said over the years that fighters are human
like the rest of us and while it is understandable in a sense after scoring two
hard knockdowns that Wilder would want to be aggressive sensing that his power
would be enough to take him the rest of the way toward regaining his world
championship, without the set up that led to those knockdowns and by reverting
back to his noted seek and destroy mentality, which at it’s core is based
strictly on power punching, it allowed Fury time to recover.
As often happens in fights that are deemed “Slugfests,” there
is a lot of trading offense between the two fighters, often heavy offense where
a punch either way is capable of ending a fight. Even though Wilder was able to
gain an advantage in my view in terms of scoring for a period of time, despite
suffering the knockdown in round three, by winning the first two rounds and
getting two knockdowns of his own in round four, by neglecting what worked well
for him early, played into Fury’s hands as the bout progressed. Despite the
fact that both fighters continued to trade punches with fight-ending intention,
gradually Fury was able to use his 6’9 frame and 277lbs. to his advantage on
the 6’7 238lb. Wilder.
With the battle rapidly turning into a war of attrition
where Fury opted to use his physicality to turn the tempo of the combat in his
favor, the fight continued on. Although there was a clear shift in momentum
towards the champion in the middle rounds of this fight, Wilder was still very
dangerous and, despite both fighters fighting fatigue, I felt the fight could
end at any moment, but as it progressed seeing the punishment both men were
dishing out to each other, I wondered what was keeping both up. Usually when
something like that comes to mind, you know you have witnessed a fight that can
only be described by two words “A Classic.”
Nevertheless, as the fight moved into the late rounds of
the scheduled twelve round world championship bout, it appeared that Fury’s
physicality was taking a toll on Wilder more so than Wilder’s power punches
were on the champion. While Wilder remained extremely dangerous, at this point
as the fight moved into the ninth round, I began to wonder two things. One
would the fight be able to go the distance with both fighters throwing bombs at
each other and two, if it somehow managed to make the twelve round distance,
would the knockdowns earlier in the fight have an impact on the overall
scoring.
After all, even after what has to be thousands of fights
on every level of the sport amateur, professional, and professional bareknuckle
bouts that I have covered over my many years covering and writing about Boxing,
you never really know what way three judges may be leaning, even though the
experience you gain by both watching fights as a fan or covering bouts in the
capacity of a journalist can give you the means to make an educated guess. By
this point, although I felt Wilder did do some good work early on and did gain
the advantage, which for a period of time nullified Fury’s knockdown of him in
round three, by round nine with the momentum clearly in Fury’s favor, I
wondered if Wilder had one more offensive burst in him that could have made a
difference in the scoring if it were needed, even as he looked extremely
exhausted both from the pace of the fight as well as the punishment he had
taken.
In some ways, the way Deontay Wilder looked at this stage
resembled how he appeared for much of the second fight when frankly the combat
was more one-sided in Fury’s favor. The obvious difference this time was though
he was fatigued, Wilder was still dangerous, still fighting hard, and even as
it seemed as though he had, had enough punishment where you almost expected to
see either the referee step in or the corner either throw in the towel as was
the case in the second fight, or to stop the fight between rounds, Wilder kept
fighting and landing offense periodically despite going down for the second
time in round ten from a Fury right hand. Despite this, as someone who has
unfortunately seen circumstances emerge from fights that were allowed to go on
longer than they should have been that have resulted in fighters either
suffering permanent damage or dying from injuries suffered in fights, I did
start to wonder in the late rounds particularly after the second knockdown in
the tenth round, if Wilder would end up
being seriously hurt if the clear visual of extreme fatigue and increased
punishment were not enough to convince the referee, his corner, or even a
ringside physician that he had taken enough punishment.
By the same token, Fury was not coming out of this fight unscathed
and had also taken punishment throughout. Of the two fighters however, the
champion seemed to have a little more left in him as he won both rounds nine
and ten convincingly in my view. As the fight entered the eleventh round, Fury had
pulled away on my unofficial scorecard to the point that if Wilder could not
land a fight-ending blow or at least score a third knockdown of the champion, I
could not see him being able to win a decision. This was particularly due to
both how he looked visibly, his decreased offense later in the fight, which was
obviously attributed to fatigue, but may have also been the result of what was
later revealed to be a broken right hand, which compromised Wilde’s primary
weapon later in the fight. This set the stage for the conclusion of this third
battle between two warriors. Round eleven.
It was in the eleventh round where Fury would stun Wilder
with a right hand, despite being hurt, the former champion tried as much as he
could to hold on to the bigger champion to try and recover, but it was not to
be. Fury would score his third and final knockdown of Wilder with a flush right
hand to the head that sent the former champion down hard on the canvas. There
would be no count as Referee Russell Mora immediately stopped the fight.
There is no disputing the heart Deontay Wilder showed in
this fight as similar to when the bout was stopped in the second fight, he
protested and insisted he could have continued. A fighter’s heart and courage
notwithstanding, I agreed with the stoppage and even in defeat Deontay Wilder
can and should hold his head high after putting forth a brave and valiant
effort in defeat. Although Fury having
won two of the three fights by what were brutal knockouts should be enough for
most to say that the rivalry between the two is over, I am not certain.
It cannot be overlooked that there was a lot of bad blood
between the two fighters going into this third bout and, despite Fury showing
sportsmanship after the fight in wanting to congratulate his opponent and say
good fight, Wilder according to the champion did not or would not return the
respectful gesture. While some may choose to make an issue of this and say that
“Bad Blood” is often a manufacturing tool to promote bouts and that fighters
should not take things seriously in that regard, only Fury and Wilder know if
the ill feelings between them is truly legitimate.
As for why I am not necessarily convinced that this third
chapter will close the book on the Fury-Wilder trilogy, we are talking about
two fighters who are at the very top of the division and while there are always
fighters and contenders looking to maneuver their way into fighting for a world
championship, even in defeat, Deontay Wilder is still a legitimate top-five Heavyweight
who can give anyone a tough fight and has dropped Tyson Fury four times in
their three fights. With undefeated unified IBF/WBA/WBO/IBO Heavyweight world
champion Oleksandr Usyk nearing a rematch against former two-time Heavyweight
world champion Anthony Joshua, which could take place in the spring of 2022,
Wilder may be a potential opponent for the winner of that fight, if of course
the winner of that fight does not pursue a bout with Fury for the Undisputed
world championship. With Fury also having WBC number one contender Dillian
Whyte in line for a title shot, Wilder will likely have to fight a few fights
to get back in contention if a fight with the winner of Usyk-Joshua 2 is not in
the cards. For the moment, Wilder should take time to recuperate from what was
a grueling three bouts with Fury and two consecutive bouts where he sustained
significant punishment.
While it was not long ago where Wilder turned down what
was a lucrative offer to sign with digital subscription sports network DAZN,
which would have in theory led to an encounter with the then undefeated Joshua
for what would have been the Undisputed world championship, a decision that
many including yours truly questioned, Wilder did say that he was betting on
himself and while there may have been elements of the business of the sport,
that could well have been looking out for their best interests as opposed to
his, it was a gutsy move that if he were able to avoid the two setbacks against
Fury, he would have been in a great position where he may have been able to
obtain an even more lucrative offer. Now
having suffered two losses to Tyson Fury, the end is not near for Deontay
Wilder as a fighter, but he will need time to recover both physically and
mentally before he begins the comeback process. Despite the two losses, he still
has the power to see himself back on top of the division and if he takes time
to further develop a more disciplined Boxing approach that we saw glimpses of
early in this third encounter with Fury, he will likely be right back in the
mix.
As for where this series of fights ends up in the
discussion in the all-time great trilogies, assuming that there will not be a
fourth fight at some point, I am not sure. Most great trilogies throughout
Boxing history regardless of weight class all have qualities that make a viable
argument as to where they place in such discussion. Since this observer is not
convinced that Fury and Wilder will not cross paths again, all I will say in
closing is this third bout between the two was one of the best Heavyweight
fights, if not the best, I have covered in over twenty-five years writing about
and covering Boxing. While this obviously covers an awful lot of ground, I will
say that it is also not often that you see a Heavyweight fight in the modern
era of the sport, even at the highest level as this was, able to make an
argument as being a Fight of the Year candidate. This fight is an exception and
even though there is still 2 ½ months to go in 2021, for now, Fury-Wilder 3 has
my vote.
“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”
The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau
Denison All Rights Reserved.
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