Tyson Fury isn’t writing Deontay Wilder off despite destroying the American when they met in Las Vegas in February.
Fury (30-0-1) handed ‘The Bronze Bomber’ (42-1-1) his first professional defeat and took away his WBC world heavyweight title belt with an astonishing display which culminated in a seventh-round TKO at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
That fight was a rematch of their draw in Los Angeles in December 2018 – a fight which many experts thought Fury deserved to win despite being dropped twice.
And perhaps it is the memory of that first fight – and particularly that 12th-round knockdown that has gone down into boxing folklore – which is leading Fury to take the challenge of Wilder 100 percent seriously third time around.
Fury acknowledges Wilder danger
“Heavyweight boxing takes one punch. Dismantle Deontay Wilder? It only takes one punch off Deontay Wilder,” Fury told Sky Sports.
“Still a very dangerous opponent, still a very hungry man, who is coming in there to prove his worth, to prove he can come back and become a two-time heavyweight champion. More dangerous than the last fight, for sure. Do you know what? It’s just a boxing match. It’s a boxing match, I don’t look at it like anything else. You win some, you lose some. You never can tell.”
The third fight with Wilder had been expected to take place in the United States in the final quarter of 2020, after being delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But now there is talk it may end up elsewhere, potentially in Saudi Arabia or Asia.
Anywhere is good for ‘Gypsy King’
Fury though is not concerned about the venue, given he has never shirked a challenge – claiming the world heavyweight title twice on foreign soil – against Wladimir Klitschko in Hamburg in 2015 and then Wilder in Nevada earlier this year.
He explained: “I’m looking forward to the challenge, whenever that may be. I’ll get over there, nice and early, eight to 10 weeks beforehand. Put in a good, gruelling training camp. Hopefully I’ll be injury-free and we’ll go out there and dance beneath the stars, in front of the world after the coronavirus.
“God willing everything goes to plan, and we both get out the ring safely, and go back to our families in one piece, and the show continues to the next one, whatever that may be.
“I’d love to get out there and do what I do best, boxing, but it’s out of my hands. It’s out of everybody’s hands, apart from people who are running the world, and unfortunately, I’m not one of those, and I’m glad I’m not because that job is difficult. Much more difficult than taking punches in the face for money.”
