The much anticipated rematch between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury is almost upon us.
WBC Heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and former ABA Super-Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will fight on Saturday, February 22nd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The first fight between these Heavyweight champions culminated in a controversial draw that left frustrated fans tearing out their hair. You can check out a video of Tyson Fury’s Walking Dead-esque return from the brink of a knockout above. In the meantime, here’s everything you need to know about their match up in the ring.
Wilder is the favorite to win, but not by much.
For the more gambling-minded among us, the odds are tipped slightly in Wilder’s favor, but the match is essentially a 50/50 toss up. Their alignment as fighters leaves them both with some strengths and some weaknesses against each other, so predicting the course of this fight is a tough one. Fury is a -110 favorite to win while Wilder is priced at -106. Based on the grudge that exists between the two, many analysts speculate that Wilder will be looking to take Fury down sooner rather than later and favor a direct, offensive approach.
Deontay Wilder claims Tyson Fury is “nervous” to face him again after what happened the last time.
In their last fight, Wilder memorably smacked Fury to the ground with K.O. that would put any Heavyweight to shame. But, in a moment many fans will never forget, Fury staggered to his feet and carried on the fight. Fury was left with a nasty concussion after the fact, but probably his ego was more bruised.
“Deep down in his heart, I really feel that he’s nervous,” Wilder shared with media outlets in a conference leading up to the match. “I really feel he’s very, very nervous from the first time what happened. When you knock a person down and give them a concussion, you never forget that. You never forget who did that to you and how they did it.”
Fury switched trainers and hired a nutritionist leading up to the match, leading many to speculate that he was doubting his technique and looking to change things up from the last time. Even though it was a draw, Wilder’s brutal beatdown on Fury is not soon to be forgotten by either of them.
Fury is famous for talking trash leading up to fights, but Wilder has his own talking points.
Fury has really ramped up speculation that he’ll be gunning for a straight knockout in one of the early rounds as revenge for his humiliation in their earlier fight. However, Wilder has been mostly unfazed, and even fired back with some hurtful comments of his own.
“Like I said before and the media quoted me on it and you can continue — he has pillow ass fists,” Wilder said. “That’s how soft they were. Maybe my adrenaline was too high to even feel anything. Sometimes after the fight, you may feel a little sore or whatever. Even after the fight, I didn’t feel anything. I took all his punches, the ones that he landed and I walked right through it.”
It’s all just speculation at this point; anyone can say anything they want. We’ll see what happens in the ring.
