Excellent fight, modern day classic
First off, props to Wilder. His team came with a plan and honestly I was surprised because this was a good one. But as soon as he got hit flush, Wilder reverted to his old ways which was expected. He did try to jab to the body in the middle rounds but he had 0 power then.
Unfortunately, Wilder is a puncher and they tried to make him a boxer, which is silly. Instead, they should have improved his footwork because from as usual, he kept crossing his legs, being on his heels and even at times he was in a open stance. Just terrible balance overall and with fatigue, it became real bad.
I just wished Wilder started working on his fundamentals after the first Stiverne fight because that was actually the right time to do it. He and his team just fell in love with that one hitter quitter and then it was too late smh. If only...
Fury was underwhelming in the start because he wasnt jabbing nor feinting which SugarHill had to remind him a couple of times. He was probably startled by Wilder's strategy I dont know but it took him a while to actually box Wilder which would have made his fight way easier
But the outcome was obvious even though he got KD twice. Fury is just bigger and more skilled. Wilder being heavier last night played a part in him actually managing to hurt Fury twice but the trade off was him being slower and gassing faster. I mean Wilder was visibly gassing by the 3rd. However if he had came lighter, he may have had a bigger tank but maybe he would have gotten slept in the 4th rather than wobbling Fury.
I just dont see any way where Wilder gets a W out of Fury. Tyson just is a bad matchup for him and probably for everybody how big yet agile he is. Even in the first fight, Deontay clearly won 2 rounds and won 4 total at best. And it was against a Fury still coming back from years of abuse of his body and Wilder only managed to get a generous draw.
Some final thoughts :
- the counts were slow but ok. Wilder's counts started at 4 and 5 and he got up immediately. Fury's first count started at 5 and he was up by 6. The second one started at 4 and he was up by 7. Yeah ref's seconds were almost twice longer but even in real time they both beat the counts.
- I dont like how much we love dudes going out on their shield. Wilder definitely got heart no doubt but did he need to prove it ? To whom ? Like that fight could have been stopped at the end of the 7th and it would have been fair. I dont even know how Deontay survived it. I get letting a guy have a chance to turn it around above all a puncher like Wilder but damn, I cringed when he got his light turned off at the end. It just felt wrong.
- I hope Wilder take this L better because he has nothing to be ashamed of with this performance.
- We need Usyk-Fury and Wilder-AJ