There weren’t too many people in the build-up to the fight between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury who thought that the American could win. In fact, one could go as far as to say that Wilder himself was probably among those who were still unconvinced that he had enough to beat the sensational Fury. You could see it in his demeanor at the weigh-in and press conferences where his excuses for previously losing were at best embarrassing, and at worst bordering on being classified as deranged.
It was all down to the fact that Wilder knew in his heart of hearts that Fury was just too good for him but that didn’t stop him from getting in the ring with this mountain of a man and going toe-to-toe. For mere mortals who aren’t professional boxers, perhaps the significance of this courage shown by Wilder is a bit lost on them. Fury is, after all, almost seven feet tall and nineteen-and-a-half stone, he’s as quick as lightning and can rain down ceaseless hellfire on his opponents. Wilder knew as much after Fury pulverized him in Las Vegas in February 2020 before stopping him in the seventh round so, in reality, it took a huge amount of bravery to want to go through that all again.
On that occasion in Vegas in 2020, Wilder’s corner actually threw the towel in with their man seemingly unable to defend himself from Fury’s devastating attack. As things turned out afterwards, this decision would be the cornerstone of Wilder’s litany of excuses as to why he lost. Indeed, the Alabama-born boxer took great exception to the fact that his ‘weak trainer’ threw the towel in and stressed that if that hadn’t happened, he would have won. Once again, quite an unlikely hypothesis given that Fury was sending Wilder to the canvas with what seemed like every other punch.
But the point is that during their third fight that Fury won, Wilder did end up going out on his shield after an eleventh-round KO by the Englishman. It was a valiant performance and he deserves great credit for the spirit that he showed in the ring. There was even a time in the figh
t where he was giving as good as he got and unexpectedly floored Fury twice in the fourth. At the end of the day, Fury’s stamina proved to be the difference after Wilder’s leg went. It was then just a case of when and not if the 33-year-old Englishman would administer the last rites.
Additionally, it should be stressed that, at one stage, it was thought that a second loss to Fury would spell the end for Wilder but nothing could be further from the truth after their recent bout. The fact of the matter is that Fury is on a different level to all the other heavyweights in the world and is, in all likelihood, the greatest boxer of many a generation. In other words, you can’t judge Wilder too harshly after losing to Fury, given that everyone in the current division will probably do so.
Indeed, it looks like Dillian Whyte is next for Fury if he overcomes Otto Wallin which the odds at Space Casino suggest he will do, with the Englishman priced at just 4/9 to defeat the Swede. Fury, however, won’t be losing any sleep over facing Whyte and should perform another demolition job when they meet in the spring of 2022. Once that happens and Wilder begins getting back to his own winning ways after a torrid three years of fighting Fury, the narrative will change around the American and perhaps even improve given that, on two occasions, Wilder nearly managed to go all twelve rounds with Fury.
There will be other fighters to come out there who won’t be good enough to go toe-to-toe with Fury for that long now that the heavyweight is in his absolute prime.
So yes, Deontay Wilder may have lost to Tyson Fury for the second time but he is still a dangerous man with the most devastating fists in the division. He will be back and time will show that his losses against Fury actually raised his stock.