Boxers Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury exchange words. Photo / AP
Boxers Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury exchange words. Photo / AP
Sorry, Joe Parker, but the fight I am really looking forward to is tomorrow's Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder, a fascinating clash if ever there was.
Like the millions who will tune in tomorrow, I will be hoping to see British heavyweight Fury cop a big Wilder right hand smackon the area of the body which makes Fury good box office – his gob.
This is two weeks ahead of Parker's clash with little-known American Alexander Flores and, while there have been some ludicrous British comparisons of Fury to the great Muhammad Ali in the past, it must be acknowledged the 2.05m Fury is perhaps the most skilled since Ali in the art of motor-mouth.
The fake jousting at press conferences that boxers indulge in to get the pay-per-view sales up is as phony as Donald Trump's hair. But Fury largely reduced a smouldering Wilder to helpless, seething silence with a flow of insults in their early exchanges, adding extra pepper to their bout.
The spectacle of the power puncher stalking the more skilled, gum-flapping provoker is always compelling – as it was when Fury pulled off one of the biggest upsets for many a year in beating Wladimir Klitschko in their title bout in 2015.
Klitschko was similarly stunned-mullet mute in the face of Fury's taunts in the pre-fight antics. Fury also clowned it up in the ring against Klitschko, taunting him and dropping his hands, even putting them behind his back.
Boxers Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury exchange words. Photo / AP
Fury wore Batman outfits at press conferences, sang Aerosmith songs karaoke-style in the ring, gobbed off about homosexuals and abortion in an odious outflow of prejudice. But you still laughed when he told a bewildered Klitschko he had about as much charisma as Fury's underpants. His schoolboy humour was reminiscent of former All Black lock Ali Williams, only with actual wit.
Fury might have beaten Klitschko but he still hasn't really won respect (except from some British sportswriters).
His win over Klitschko was his peak, so far anyway, but it was a weird fight with nobody hitting anyone very hard or even very much, a curious feature in boxing. Fury won because he didn't hit Klitschko better than Klitschko didn't hit him, if you see what I mean…
That this was hailed in some quarters in the UK as a glorious victory was odd. I mean, the fight looked like Dancing With The Stars crossed with Karate Kid's "wax on, wax off" movements from Mr Miyagi.
Yes, Fury was elusive, using the ring and swaying back out of reach of Klitschko's pawing attempts, seemingly putting the favourite off his game. But, as a contest, it was patsy stuff with Klitschko strangely reluctant to engage Fury even though he seemed to have greater firepower.
The official stats from that bout had Klitschko landing 18 of 69 power shots or about 25 per cent and Fury landing 48 of 202 power shots (also about 25 per cent). Um, excuse me, but if anyone threw even one power shot in that fight, I missed it, along with the 201 others Fury supposedly dispatched.
Klitschko aside (a big aside, admittedly), Fury hasn't beaten anyone of real note. He is undefeated in 27 fights but any objective analysis of 25 of them provokes the question: Who? That's apart from Klitschko and British journeyman Dereck Chisora whom Fury has beaten twice. While his record of 19 knockouts in those 27 wins looks good, closer examination reveals those Fury has left horizontal are decidedly second string.
Boxers Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury are separated by their respective team members at a press conference. Photo / AP
Wilder, on the other hand, has a right hand that could re-arrange Fury's molecular structure if he manages to catch him. He has fought 40 times and is similarly undefeated, with all but one knocked out – and the notches on Wilder's belt are rather more substantial.
Bermane Stiverne (the only one to go the distance with Wilder) and Chris Arreola were reasonably credible heavyweights; the 2.01m Wilder's most significant win was in March when he knocked over the previously undefeated and highly dangerous Cuban, Luis Ortiz.
On paper, it looks as though Fury will exist for as long as it takes Wilder's right hand to catch up with him. However, the voluble Englishman has a few things going for him:
• Genuine ringcraft whereas Wilder's approach generally seems to be to inch forward with his right hand cocked.
• Big match temperament; Fury seems to thrive on the big occasion.
• If he's fully fit, the longer the fight goes, the better it may be for Fury.
• A manic personality – in Ali's fights against the huge, brooding champ Sonny Liston in the '60s, Ali was so over the top with his shrill baiting of "the big ugly bear" that Liston often looked bewildered by someone who appeared to be clinically insane. Fury has been open with his struggles with mental health and Wilder has begun to look a little bit like Liston did – angry, but nonplussed; not quite knowing whether to hit Fury or dial 111.
It is an absorbing mix of styles made even more compelling by the fact the likely next step for the winner is Anthony Joshua, with the winner of that next fight to become the first heavyweight in history to hold all four major belts.
