This past Saturday, we saw one of the most anticipated boxing matches of this century, the rematch between the two giants of the heavyweight boxing scene, Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder. Going into this fight, it was safe to assume a lot of fans and “experts” alike thought Wilder would hit Fury with “the most dangerous weapon in sports,” Wilder’s right hand. What people may not have realized it that Fury should’ve been the favorite for this fight.
In the first fight these two had back in December of 2018 at the Staples Center, I can honestly say Fury won every single round minus the two he got knocked down in, but, because this is boxing, which has a history of being “fixed,” the fight ended in a draw. As expected, both Fury and Wilder thought they deserved to win the fight though, as I said above, Fury really should’ve won the fight.
In total punches thrown, in the first one, Fury landed 115 punches to Wilder’s 85. That being said, Wilder threw 85 more punches than Fury in the fight, with Wilder throwing 417 punches to Fury’s 332.
One could also argue that Fury was in no shape to go into the ring with Deontay Wilder, with a lot of fans expecting Wilder to drop Fury early in the fight, but Fury had other ideas. Fury looked as if he was made of straight jelly, he was in no physical condition to compete and hadn’t fought anybody worth their snuff since he beat Klitschko in 2015.
After his two year boxing ban, Fury was back in the ring, fighting just two fights before taking on Wilder, which a lot of people considered “career suicide” but also actual suicide. No one has ever been able to hang with Wilder, especially someone in as bad of shape as Fury.
As I said above, though he was arguably in the worst shape of his boxing career (not worst shape of his life, weighed around 400 lbs. in his two year ban) he still deserved to win the fight, but again, it ended in a draw, making for a much anticipated second match.
Before the fight, my friends were asking me who I thought would win, and as a fan of both fighters, it was hard for me to choose. In the end, I did end up going with Fury, but never, and I mean NEVER, in my wildest dreams did I think the fight would go the way it did.
In the match, which took place last Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Fury made no mistake about it, he was winning this fight, and he was making sure it was not going to a decision. Fury showed he is by far the superior boxer, forcing Wilder to play on the back foot the entire fight.
Throughout the fight, Fury was all over Wilder, in total, Fury landed 58 punches, while Wilder only threw 55. This fight was a total domination from the first bell.
Now, you could make some excuses for Wilder for losing this fight. Coming in, Wilder weighed in at 231 lbs., 19 lbs. more than what he weighed in the last fight. As Fury has said, he’s (Fury) a “natural fat man,” so he can gain weight faster and wear it better in the ring (Fury weighed 273 lbs. as opposed to 256 lbs. he weighed in the first fight). Wilder is not naturally 231 lbs., probably weighing somewhere around 210 lbs. So you could say he didn’t know how to carry the weight throughout the match.
Another thing that has been thrown around is his 40-45 lb. costume he wore for his ring walk, which is said to have weakened his legs. I guess you could make that argument, but that is a very weak excuse. Wilder just got beat down.
What’s really crazy to think about with this fight, this was the first time Wilder had been knocked down since 2010! That is just insane, and he got knocked down twice in this fight before his corner threw in the towel.
I guess that shows the greatness of Tyson Fury, everything that happened in the fight is exactly what Fury said he would do. Fury is on top of the boxing world, now holding the WBO, WBA, RING, IBF, WBC, LINEAL, and IBO title belts and is the second man in heavyweight boxing history to hold the RING belt twice, the other being the amazing Mohammad Ali, who held it three times.
The rematch looks like it will happen, with both fighters looking keen on making this a trilogy. We can only hope the third one is as amazing as the first two fights. I for one cannot wait.
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