Tag: Wilder-Fury

Deontay Wilder says he’s ‘rejuvenated and reinvented’

Deontay Wilder says he’s “rejuvenated and reinvented” going into his third fight with Tyson Fury on Oct. 9.

Deontay Wilder divides his career into two phases.

In Phase 1, he won the WBC heavyweight title by outpointing Bermane Stiverne in 2015 and made 10 successful defenses. That run included nine knockouts and a draw with Tyson Fury, who he meets for a third time on Oct. 9 in Las Vegas.

Phase 2 follows a humbling seventh-round knockout loss to Fury  in February of last year that cost him his title and damaged his reputation.

Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) blamed the loss in part on challenges leading up to fight but hasn’t explained them in great detail. All we know is that he shed members of his team and others he believes were dragging him down, which included trainer Mark Breland.

Now, with everyone near him on the same page, he claims he’s in a perfect state of mind.

“I’m super focused,” he said on a zoom call Wednesday. “I’m more focused now than I’ve even been in my entire career. This is the second phase of my career. I had fun winning and defending the title for five years.

“At this point, we’re just serious about everything. I’m in a happy place, and I’m glad that I’m here.”

The past several months have had their challenges, including the postponement of the fight after Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) contracted COVID-19.

Wilder expressed frustration over the delay, even questioning whether Fury really came down with the virus. The fact he now will have been out of the ring for almost 20 months was particularly hard to swallow.

However, those feelings didn’t last long. He gave the postponement a positive spin on the zoom call.

“The delay was actually a blessing for me,” he said. “The more they delayed it, the more time we had to work on my craft and art, along with strategically going over the game plan we’re going to have on October 9.

“It was obviously frustrating because I was ready to go. And this is the longest I’ve been out of the ring. There’s something about the ring that calls you and draws you back. But I’ve used the time and benefited tremendously.”

He seems to be sincere when he says he’s never been more prepared for any fight.

“This has hands down been the best training camp I’ve had in my entire career,” he said. “Sometimes you need events to happen in life to bring about changes that you need. We’ve had no distractions, and I’m just in a happy state mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

“You’re looking at a rejuvenated and reinvented Deontay Wilder. The old Deontay is no longer there. I can’t explain it to you, I have to show you on October 9. I’m looking forward to it and I can’t wait.”

[lawrence-related id=22184,21795,20769,20478]

Deontay Wilder says he’s ‘rejuvenated and reinvented’

Deontay Wilder says he’s “rejuvenated and reinvented” going into his third fight with Tyson Fury on Oct. 9.

Deontay Wilder divides his career into two phases.

In Phase 1, he won the WBC heavyweight title by outpointing Bermane Stiverne in 2015 and made 10 successful defenses. That run included nine knockouts and a draw with Tyson Fury, who he meets for a third time on Oct. 9 in Las Vegas.

Phase 2 follows a humbling seventh-round knockout loss to Fury  in February of last year that cost him his title and damaged his reputation.

Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) blamed the loss in part on challenges leading up to fight but hasn’t explained them in great detail. All we know is that he shed members of his team and others he believes were dragging him down, which included trainer Mark Breland.

Now, with everyone near him on the same page, he claims he’s in a perfect state of mind.

“I’m super focused,” he said on a zoom call Wednesday. “I’m more focused now than I’ve even been in my entire career. This is the second phase of my career. I had fun winning and defending the title for five years.

“At this point, we’re just serious about everything. I’m in a happy place, and I’m glad that I’m here.”

The past several months have had their challenges, including the postponement of the fight after Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) contracted COVID-19.

Wilder expressed frustration over the delay, even questioning whether Fury really came down with the virus. The fact he now will have been out of the ring for almost 20 months was particularly hard to swallow.

However, those feelings didn’t last long. He gave the postponement a positive spin on the zoom call.

“The delay was actually a blessing for me,” he said. “The more they delayed it, the more time we had to work on my craft and art, along with strategically going over the game plan we’re going to have on October 9.

“It was obviously frustrating because I was ready to go. And this is the longest I’ve been out of the ring. There’s something about the ring that calls you and draws you back. But I’ve used the time and benefited tremendously.”

He seems to be sincere when he says he’s never been more prepared for any fight.

“This has hands down been the best training camp I’ve had in my entire career,” he said. “Sometimes you need events to happen in life to bring about changes that you need. We’ve had no distractions, and I’m just in a happy state mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

“You’re looking at a rejuvenated and reinvented Deontay Wilder. The old Deontay is no longer there. I can’t explain it to you, I have to show you on October 9. I’m looking forward to it and I can’t wait.”

[lawrence-related id=22184,21795,20769,20478]

Tyson Fury lays out his fight schedule through next year

Heavyweight champ Tyson Fury expects to fight Deontay Wilder a third time and Anthony Joshua twice in his next three fights.

Tyson Fury seems to have a schedule in place through next year.

The heavyweight champ said on Instagram Live that he will fight Deontay Wilder a third time next and then have two fights with fellow titleholder Anthony Joshua, which should take him into 2022.

The date of the Wilder fight, originally targeted for July 18, remains uncertain because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve got the rematch with Wilder on at some point … then we’ve got the two AJ fights,” Fury said. “Well, one, and then obviously when I batter him, he’ll want a rematch.”

The handlers of Fury and Joshua reportedly have discussed the possibility of paying Wilder and Kubrat Pulev, Joshua’s scheduled opponent, to step aside so Fury and Joshua can go directly into their all-British showdown but neither Wilder nor Pulev is willing to cooperate.

Fury said he wants the third fight with Wilder anyway.

“I’ll beat him in the ring, and that’s how I’ll get him out the way,” Fury said. “I wouldn’t pay him $2 million to step aside. I’d rather give him another battering again. I’m going to take him out again for a third time, hopefully end of the year, and then we’re going to go into 2021 for the biggest fight in boxing history between two undefeated British heavyweights – me and AJ.”

Joshua isn’t undefeated – he was stopped by Andy Ruiz Jr. before winning a rematch last year – but everyone knows the magnitude of a Fury-Joshua matchup or two.

“It would probably be a two-fight deal,” Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn told Sky Sports. “Any deal between Fury and AJ, you run it twice.”

And assuming Fury gets past Wilder and two fights with Joshua?

“There’s plenty of fighters out there for me to beat up on,” Fury said. “You got Dillian Whyte, Jarrell Miller, you got Pulev, you got Ruiz, you got [Luis] Ortiz, you got [Daniel] Dubois, you got [Joe] Joyce. There’s loads.”

George Foreman offers to work with Deontay Wilder

George Foreman knows a thing or two about hitting hard; he also knows something about coming back from a devastating knockout loss.

Heavyweight great George Foreman has a suggestion for how Deontay Wilder can improve his fight game: Come train with me.

“Big George,” one of the most devastating punchers in boxing history, put out an open invitation to fellow hard-hitter Wilder shortly after the latter’s surprising seventh-round knockout loss against Tyson Fury last Saturday in Las Vegas. Fury dominated Wilder from the opening bell, dismantling the Tuscaloosan behind an uncharacteristically aggressive style.

“Maybe it’s Time for Deontay Wilder, to come spend a 2-4 weeks with me” Foreman wrote on Twitter. “Happy for Fury; but see a need for Wilder.”

In his heyday, Foreman, much like Wilder today, had one of the great wrecking-ball right hands. Also like Wilder, Foreman suffered a devastating loss when he went up against Muhammad Ali in 1974 in the so-called “Rumble in the Jungle.” Ali, a heavy underdog, knocked Foreman out in the eighth round. Foreman would mount an incredible comeback, albeit more than a decade later, when he became the oldest heavyweight titleholder in heavyweight history at 45.

Given the similarities, Foreman thinks he can offer a helping hand to Wilder.

Foreman’s comment arrives after Wilder voiced a highly unconvincing mea culpa. He blamed his performance on the weight of his ringwalk costume and threw co-trainer Mark Breland under the bus for throwing in the towel, which prompted referee Kenny Bayless to stop the fight.

“I am upset with Mark for the simple fact that we’ve talked about this many times and it’s not emotional,” Wilder told Yahoo Sports! “… I told my team to never, ever, no matter what it may look like, to never throw the towel in with me because I’m a special kind. I still had five rounds left. No matter what it looked like, I was still in the fight.”

If Wilder moves on from Breland, who has been with him from Day 1 in the professional ranks, he’ll probably hire someone else to work with head trainer Jay Deas as he prepares to a likely third fight with Fury.

Foreman? Crazier things have happened.

Jarrell Miller, back in trash-talk mode, takes jabs at Wilder-Fury II

Jarrell Miller knows no shame, and is not afraid to let everyone know. The disgraced heavyweight took time to denigrate Wilder-Fury II.

Jarrell Miller is a disgraced drug cheat in the eyes of many, but don’t expect him to lie low.

With the ink still fresh from signing a multi-year promotional contract with Top Rank, the Brooklyn heavyweight is eager to make his ring return later this spring. He’s also apparently eager to get back to his trash-talking ways. His favorite target? The heavyweight division’s upper class. 

“Beyoncé wilder undercard is going to be a lil dry I think it need(s) a lil Juicing Up,” the Brooklyn heavyweight posted on Instagram Friday in a reference to the upcoming heavyweight title fight between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury.

Juicing up? Was that a Freudian slip? Or just Miller being Miller?

We might as well get used to it. Top Rank boasts a slew of heavyweights who can serve as potential opponents for Miller, including Kubrat Pulev, Carlos Takam and Agit Kabayel, to name a few.

Miller tested positive for several PEDs ahead of his scheduled tussle against then British titleholder Anthony Joshua in June 2018. He was dropped from the card but, in the opinion of many, the penalty he received was a slap on the rest: The WBA suspended him for six months while the New York State Athletic Commission, citing Miller’s expired license, took no punitive action.

After staying out of the headlines for a few months, Miller linked up with a new manager in James Prince, the manager of former two-time titleholder Andre Ward and current featherweight titleholder Shakur Stevenson.

In another post, Miller recorded himself addressing his followers about the Wilder-Fury pay-per-view tilt, comparing it to bodily waste.

“They want to give you a fart fight,” he said. “If you want to watch a fart fight on pay-per-view, I think Deontay Wilder-Fury might be your card. But if you want that smoke smoke, come holla at your boy, cuz I”m back and I’mma smoke somebody ass. I can’t wait, I really can’t wait.

“Big Baby is back. The most entertaining heavyweight in the game.”

Eddie Hearn: Tyson Fury is ‘his own boss,’ Deontay Wilder not so much

Eddie Hearn believes it will be easier to make a Joshua-Fury fight, rather than a Joshua-Wilder fight, he said in a recent interview.

Eddie Hearn believes a fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will be much easier to make than a fight between Joshua and Deontay Wilder.

Wilder and Fury are scheduled to face each other in a pay-per-view rematch on Feb. 22. Whatever the outcome, a trilogy is reportedly in the works for the summer. That could leave Joshua as the odd man out. Joshua, who recently reclaimed his three heavyweight titles from Andy Ruiz on Dec. 7 in Saudi Arabia, has mandatory defenses against Kubrat Pulev and Oleksandr Usyk. It appears he’ll face Pulev first.

In any event, a showdown between Joshua and either Wilder or Fuy is not likely to happen in 2020, Hearn explained on a recent episode of the Chris Mannix Boxing Podcast.

“It may just be Pulev and Usyk for us (in 2020),” Hearn said. “… With Joshua losing against Ruiz, it was all over. Now it’s back on, and it’s bigger than ever. But how long do you want to wait. How greedy do you want to be?”

Hearn continued: “As Anthony said the other night, I think if Fury wins, that fight happens just like that, with Joshua. If Wilder wins, it’s a little bit more complicated. Few more egos, a bit more politics.”

Attempts to make a Joshua-Wilder fight last spring culminated with DAZN, the sports streaming company that holds rights to Joshua and Hearn’s Matchroom stable, offering Wilder a reported nine-figure multi-fight deal. Wilder, along with managers Al Haymon and Shelly Finkel, met with DAZN CEO John Skipper in March. Wilder ended up declining the offer.

“The difference is, with Fury, he will make things happen personally,” Hearn said. “If Fury wants that fight, he will find a way to make it happen, with him and MTK. [Fury’s promoter Frank] Warren don’t got any involvement with Fury anymore, a little bit on the U.K. side. Obviously Top Rank do and MTK is driving it, but fury is like his own man. He’s his own boss. He’ll just tell them. They’ll fall out, but Fury’s not afraid of that.”

“Whereas I feel like Wilder is being told what to do. That’s the difference. AJ is his own boss as well. If AJ turns around to me and says I want that fight, we have to go and make it, and if we don’t make it, we haven’t done our job.”