Tyson Fury walked away with another knockout victory over Deontay Wilder but they both stole our hearts.
Fury and Wilder engaged in one of the most electrifying heavyweight championship fights in recent memory, a war with an abundance of wild exchanges, five brutal knockdowns and a dramatic stoppage in the 11th round to close the show Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
It just doesn’t get much better than that.
Fury had to dig much deeper in this fight than the last one against Wilder, a seventh-round knockout in which Wilder was overwhelmed in February of last year. On Saturday, the Gypsy King went down twice and was hurt badly in Round 4, and took many more of his rival’s powerful right hands throughout the battle.
However, like the previous fight, Fury was the better man in the end. He overcame unusual punishment to wear Wilder down and finish him off at 1 minute, 10 seconds of Round 11 to retain the portion of the heavyweight championship he took from Wilder in the last fight and underscore the notion that’s he’s the best heavyweight in the world.
“As the great John Wayne said, I’m made of pig iron and steel, baby,” Fury yelled in the ring afterward.
For Wilder, it was a bitter defeat. He fought with the courage and determination that fans crave and many believed he couldn’t produce against Fury, which was particularly poignant given the manner in which he was beaten up in the previous fight.
The former champ seemed to be on the verge of getting knocked out for much of the bout but somehow managed to fight on until finally the flurry of shots that put him away — punctuated by one last right to the chin — made that impossible. Fans will never forget his effort.
Of course, that won’t mean much to him at the moment. He has now been knocked out by Fury in back-to-back fights after saying repeatedly that he has been rejuvenated under new trainer Malik Scott, which leaves his immediate future up in the air.
And remember: He salvaged a draw with Fury by putting him down in Rounds 9 and 12, a result that many observers thought was a gift to Wilder.
Where does Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) go from here? The fans certainly will want to see him fight again after his effort on Saturday but he will have to beat a contender or two to get back into position to fight for a title again, if that’s what he wants. He’s 35.
Fury gave him a vote of confidence afterward.
“He put me down a couple of times. I was hurt,” Fury said. “He’s a strong puncher. And he’s a tough man. I was hitting him with some big shots. … It was a great fight tonight. It was worthy of any trilogy in the history of the sport.
“I’m not going to make any excuses. Wilder is a tough fighter. He gave me a real run for my money tonight. And I always said I’m the best in the world, and he’s the second best.”
Meanwhile, Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) can move onto more massive heavyweight events. The question is who will he target?
His top two potential rivals, Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua, are expected to fight one another a second time after Usyk stunned the boxing world by outpointing Joshua to win three of the four major belts on Sept. 25.
Fury could face the winner of that fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship but that could be a year from now. He obviously won’t wait that long to fight again, particularly after waiting 19-plus months to fight Wilder a third time.
That means we could see Fury in the ring with the likes of Dillian Whyte or Andy Ruiz or Robert Helenius, who knocked out Adam Kownacki on the undercard Saturday.
For now, Fury will enjoy his epic victory with his team and family. He certainly earned it.
Then, in time, the king of the division will huddle with his advisors and take the next step in what is shaping up to be a career that will lead him into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. In fact, his performance on Saturday might’ve punched his ticket to Canastota, New York.
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