Tyson Fury keeps Deontay Wilder away from greatness
Deontay Wilder is a great knockout puncher, but he’s not a great boxer.
Tyson Fury proved that on Saturday night as he turned Wilder into a heavy bag. Wilder was knocked down multiple times, and the fight was mercifully stopped in the seventh round as Fury avoided any controversy to claim the WBWhatever heavyweight title.
It wasn’t so much as a boxing match as it was a sparring session between the champ and some guy you don’t know.
Fury threw three times as many punches as Wilder. Fury landed one punch to the side of Wilder’s head in the early rounds that cut open his ear and caused bleeding.
Wilder was never in the fight, and his corner threw in the towel in the seventh round when it was apparent their guy wasn’t in it. And hurt.
Fury steadily attacked and never let Wilder breathe.
Americans love big, bad men who turn champs into chumps. We love personality. We love pop. That would be Brit Tyson Fury.
Deontay Wilder had a chance to make America fall in love with him.
Nope. His 41 KOs in 43 fights going into Saturday night is a wonderful stat, but his performance against Fury was so one-sided no one can consider him a giant even if his stature is.
“Look at the guys out there now and they really don’t compare to the fighters we’ve seen in the history of the division,” fighter Shawn Porter told me a few days before the fight. He was one of the analysts on the Pay Per View telecast on Saturday night.
“But when you break them down, and analyze the division, you can say, ‘Wow, this is a really tough division.’ They all have one or two key components that can make these fights exciting.
“I do think the division lacks the talent and natural ability, but I think the heavyweight is top tier right now because anyone can be a champion.”
That won’t be Deontay Wilder.
Assuming Fury doesn’t retire, his next opponent won’t be Wilder. It will be fellow Brit Anthony Joshua. That would post large Pay Per View numbers, even if neither fighter has captured America the way celebrity heavyweights can.
Of course, because this is boxing Fury may face Joey McCan’tBox as his next opponent.
Wilder’s approach to boxing is sexy, and risky. He relies on one punch in a way few fighters are confident enough to even contemplate.
“He says, ‘I have to be perfect for two seconds,’” Porter said of Wilder. “You don’t know when that two seconds is going to come. He’s too confident in his power. He needs to improve other parts because, at times, that can be a hindrance.”
In Wilder’s previous fights his power was only an asset.
On Saturday night in Las Vegas, Deontay Wilder’s power was off. Tyson Fury took it away, and as such America doesn’t quite have the great heavyweight it loves.
