LOS ANGELES – Deontay Wilder’s chant sounds like an alarm.
“Bomb Squad,” he shouts at an almost concussive volume that forces just about anybody within the scream zone to cover their ears or look for shelter.
Yet, Tyson Fury, a singer when he’s not boxing or wrestling, just smiles. He’s not alarmed. He’s heard the scream. He’s seen the bomb. He even got up from the bomb, or at least the physical manifestation of it. It landed, along with a left hand, on Dec. 1 in the final moments of their first fight more than 13 months ago.
That makes Fury a survivor, a lone exception, yet proof, perhaps, that Wilder’s right is not quite as lethal as he and his long list of KO victims – 40 in 42 fights – might think. It’s no coincidence that Fury is using that moment, reminding Wilder of it again and again as their Feb. 22 rematch approaches at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand in a Fox/ESPN+ pay-per-view bout.
Fury reminded Wilder of that moment, taunting him about as often as Wilder broke into his trademark chant, during repeated face-to-face poses at a news conference Monday.
“Yeah, I told him I got up with my heart and balls,’’ Fury said in a tone that promised a lot more of both would be there for the rematch.
For the clever Fury, it represented an opening salvo in the psychological byplay expected to unfold over the next few weeks. No skillset is world class without a mastery of head games.
“I’m already living in his head,’’ Fury said.
Wilder, of course, laughs at that, screams Bomb Squad and promises to rip off Fury’s head.
In the first fight, Wilder said he gave Fury a baptism, which is an initiation. It’s a new beginning.
“Rising up is part of baptism,’’ Wilder said. “But this a different story. This is unfinished business.’’
Further business, Wilder says, that will end with no improbable rise from the canvas. There’s no counter for his power, he says.
“When you’re facing power there’s no way around it,” Wilder said. “You can’t prepare for that. You just have to hope that when it lands, it doesn’t do that much damage. He doesn’t even know how he got on the ground or how he got up in the first fight. He’s been dealing with that feeling ever since the end of the first fight’’
Fury might not remember how he landed. But the confidence he gained in getting up might be a seed for some doubt in Wilder, who is defined by a right with a dimension as singular as it is powerful.
Fury will try to plant it and Wilder will try to knock it out. Have no doubt about it.