Tag: Wilder-Fury II

Deontay Wilder: Tyson Fury’s change of trainers sign of trouble

Deontay Wilder says Tyson Fury’s decision to fire trainer Ben Davison is a sign that he’s nervous about his chances in their Feb. 22 rematch

Deontay Wilder looks at change in Tyson Fury’s corner and sees turmoil. But Fury embraces change, calling it an inevitable step in a never-ending quest to get better.

Wilder says Fury’s surprising decision to fire trainer Ben Davison and hire SugarHill Steward is a sign that he’s nervous about his chances in their Feb. 22 rematch on Fox/ESPN+ pay-per-view.

“He changes trainers like he changes his drawers,’’ Wilder said at a news conference this week in Los Angeles, just across the street from where they fought to a controversial draw more than 13 months ago at Staples Center.

But, Wilder suggests, the move from one trainer to another will only leave Fury dizzy and without answers.

“If he beat me, then why all the new trainers?’’ Wilder said. “Every day it changes. Firing and hiring. He wants to talk about being out of shape the first time, but he was in great shape. He spent 100,000 [British] pounds on all those camps.

“I still to this day have the same people with me and I don’t need to change it.’’

Wilder has always been with Jay Deas and began working with Mark Breland in 2008. A familiar face in the corner is believed to be a significant, yet intangible factor, especially amid the pressure and potential adversity in a big fight. For Wilder and Fury, no fight is bigger than their rematch.

Fury says Steward is a familiar face. He got to know him years ago while sparring at the Kronk Gym for SugarHill’s namesake and mentor, the late Emanuel Steward.

The change in Fury’s corner was prompted by what happened in the bloody decision over Otto Wallin on Sept. 14 in Las Vegas. Fury’s father complained that his son looked unprepared. He blamed Davison, saying a change was necessary if his son hoped to beat Wilder in a rematch. Three months later, Davison was gone.

Fury said he was ready to move on anyway. He said he had grown stale.

“You’re never a finished article,’’ Fury said. “You can always improve. I like to keep freshening things up every now and again. I don’t make excuses. I won fair and square and we get to do it again. I’m ready for a fight today.

“I’m looking for a knockout. That’s why I hired SugarHill. He gets you to sit down on that big right hand. That’s what I’m looking for. There’s the game plan. If I wasn’t looking for a knockout, I would have sharpened up what I did in the last fight. I’m not coming for that. I’m looking for my 21st knockout.’’

Dillian Whyte on Deontay Wilder: ‘(Klitschko) knocked him out’

Dillian Whyte can’t get a straight answer as to why his mandatory status has not translated into a title shot against Deontay Wilder.

It’s no secret that Dillian Whyte has got it in for heavyweight colleague Deontay Wilder. The Londoner has been Wilder’s WBC mandatory for God knows how long, but his status has yet to translate into a title shot. What gives? Whyte himself can’t seem to figure it out, nor has been able to get a convincing answer from the powers that be. In the meantime, he has not been shy about turning to the press to air out his grievances.

“Coward.”

“Chicken.”

“Yellow-livered hillbilly.”

Whyte’s latest bit of trash talk arrives just as Wilder and Tyson Fury conducted a press conference to kick start the promotion for their highly anticipated heavyweight title rematch on Feb. 22 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

In an interview with Sky Sports, Whyte recounted a long ago incident in which he claims to have witnessed Wilder hit the canvas during a sparring session with then-reigning heavyweight titleholder Wladimir Klitschko.

“I’ve seen him getting knocked out,” Whyte said. “Wladimir knocked him out. (Wilder) knew what happened. He had his hands up. He was roughing Wlad up, bringing the smoke, and he was going wild.

“Wlad backs up, changes his footwork, feinting, feinting, jabs to the body, throws that feint jab, left hook. Wilder had his hands up, he was gone. It wasn’t no knockdown, he was knocked cold. Properly twitching as well.”

There it is. Yet another untold sparring tale lifted out of obscurity. Clearly, Whyte does not subscribe to the oft-cited brotherly code, “What happens in the gym, stays in the gym.”

“That’s why they probably didn’t want him to fight Wlad,” Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs) continued, “because Wlad was going to fight him as a pro and Wilder never fancied it the whole time.”

Meanwhile, Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) seems to be doing alright for himself. After a pay-per-view outing against Luis Ortiz last November, in which he knocked out the Cuban in the seventh round, he will attempt to settle unfinished business with Fury in another pay-per-view clash. The first fight ended in a controversial draw.

Whyte, on the other hand, is coming off a particularly sluggish performance against Mariusz Wach on the undercard of the Andy Ruiz Jr.-Anthony Joshua rematch on Dec. 7. Before that, his career nearly came down in flames when he allegedly tested positive for a banned substance before his fight against Oscar Rivas in July. The issue was exacerbated by the fact Rivas and his team were not aware of the test result. The WBC dropped Whyte’s mandatory status but reinstating him after UK Anti-Doping cleared him of wrongdoing. 

As it pertains to a match-up with Wilder, Whyte was a bit more charitable, noting that “It would be a tough fight because he is quite agile with awkward movement. I would expect a tough fight, but I believe I can knock Wilder out.”

“People might laugh, but I believe I can get to him and knock him out. It wouldn’t be a fight where I would jab my way in. I’d run at him in the first round and start brawling and, if I get chinned, then so be it.”

Deontay Wilder let’s his rival (expletives) have it

Deontay Wilder blasted rivals Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua for teaming up against him, saying “I guess it’s U.K. versus USA.”

Silence is a relative term when applied to Deontay Wilder. A temporary one, too. The expletives are back and nobody is surprised.

After practicing some quiet time after visiting The Pope, Wilder exploded, going from mute to window-rattling in a supersonic second in an attack targeting heavyweight rival Tyson Fury and all that talk about Anthony Joshua as a sparring partner in Fury’s camp for their Feb. 22 rematch on pay-per-view.

Forget that Joshua has yet to show up in Fury’s camp. That detail doesn’t matter to Wilder any more than Wilder’s flu mattered to Fury when he ripped him for not showing up at a scheduled media appearance during college football playoffs the day after the fight was announced last month.

Wilder just wants to talk. And he did. Did he bleeping ever.

“Look at those (expletives), that’s what I said, they’re all some (expletives),’’ Wilder told ThaBoxingVoice Saturday. “Who tries to team up on someone, you know?

“You say you’re the best, I say I’m the best. Now, you (expletives) are trying to team up with each other. I guess it’s U.K. versus USA.

“It builds my confidence up, it allows me to hold my chest out and lift my head up a little bit more higher and walk through the room like I’m the man.”

Wilder will be in a room with Fury Monday in Los Angeles for a news conference. At least, he’s scheduled to.

Tyson Fury reveals sparring partners … where’s Anthony Joshua?

Tyson Fury revealed his sparring partners for his rematch with Deontay Wilder on Feb. 22. Anthony Joshua isn’t among them.

Tyson Fury’s sparring partners for his rematch with Deontay Wilder on Feb. 22 have been revealed. And none is named Anthony Joshua.

Joshua, who holds three of the four major heavyweight titles, offered to spar with Fury ahead of the Wilder fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas – and Fury accepted – but it appears that unusual arrangement won’t become reality.

Fury will spar with newbies George Fox (3-0, 0 KOs), David Adeleye (1-0, 1 KO) and Jared Anderson (2-0, 2 KOs), according to talkSPORT. Adeleye and Anderson are both listed at 6-foot-4 on Boxrec.com, three inches shorter than Wilder. Fox’s height wasn’t listed but he appears to be as tall at the 6-9 Fury in a photo.

Joshua reiterated that the offer to spar with his British rival was genuine … sort of.

“You know when I look back at some of the s— I say, I think, ‘Why did I say that?’” Joshua told talkSPORT. “So now we’re going to talk about it and give more publicized things to talk about. Fury is a world-class fighter and I’m a world-class fighter that is still trying to improve so I can become like an elite-level fighter.

“Sparring Fury is only going to do me good, in my opinion. So I’m never too big for my boots where I can’t learn anymore. So that opportunity, for me to spar Fury, is for my own benefit as well.”

Joshua also reiterated that he hopes Fury beats Wilder to set up an all-U.K. title fight, which was another reason to help him in camp.

Said Joshua: “And the reason why I thought about it and the reason why it came to fruition for me is because I feel like, if Fury was to win that fight [against Wilder], I think he would be more inclined to fight me next and quicker than Wilder would.”

Of course, as talkSPORT pointed out, Joshua could still show up unannounced at the gym.

Tyson Fury at 400 pounds serves as cautionary tale

Tyson Fury took a moment to recall when he was walking around at 400 pounds, suicidal and depressed, by posting an image on social media.

Tyson Fury remembers when he was the 400-pound elephant in the room.

As he prepares to face off against Deontay Wilder on Feb. 22, the Manchester heavyweight took a moment on social media to remember when he was at rock-bottom, posting a photo depicting him at the absolute nadir of his life – 150 pounds overweight, depressed and utterly lost

He used his misfortune as a cautionary tale.

“When someone says you can’t do something,” Fury wrote, “look at this and remember anything is possible. This is me at over 400lb.”

Grainy though the image is, the rolls of fat around Fury’s midsection are unmistakable, a reminder of the strenuous rehabilitation that he endured over the past couple of years to whip himself back into title contention.

Again, it didn’t look so good for Fury.

After upsetting then-unified heavyweight titleholder Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, Fury fell apart at the seams, unable to handle his newly-wrought fame. His career, or rather his life, quickly descended into a dark morass of cocaine and alcohol binges. It got so bad, he claims, that one night while on the road he tried to take his own life.

Now all that’s in the past, presumably, as Fury has scripted a remarkable turnaround, highlighted by his disputed draw with Wilder in their first fight, in 2018. Fury provided the fight’s most-memorable moment when he came back from a devastating right hand-left hook combination that put him flat on his back. Fury not only beat the count, but he roared back to put Wilder on his backfoot. 

The rematch, a joint pay-per-view effort between Fox and ESPN that will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, figures to be one of the most intriguing bouts of the early 2020 schedule. 

Frank Warren comfortable with Tyson Fury’s change of trainers

Promoter Frank Warren said he’s fully confident Tyson Fury “knows what he’s doing in bringing in Javan SugarHill Steward.”

A new trainer is sometimes interpreted as a sign of uncertainty, if not turmoil, but Tyson Fury promoter Frank Warren is comfortable with Fury’s decision to fire Ben Davison and hire SugarHill Steward before the heavyweight rematch with Deontay Wilder on Feb. 22.

No worries, Warren says

“I know there is some concern about Fury changing trainers ahead of such a colossal clash,’’ Warren told The Mirror, a U.K. publication.  “I’m certainly sad to see him split with Ben Davison because the pair were great together.

“But when Fury appointed Davison as the man to help him get back to the top many questioned him using such a young trainer. How wrong they were.’’

Davison was a key in helping Fury fight his way back into the championship mix after he slipped into a lifestyle that included more drugging, drinking and dining than training. Fury was reportedly about 400 pounds about a year before his controversial draw with Wilder on Dec. 1, 2018 at Los Angeles’ Staples Center.

But a difficult decision over then-unknown Otto Wallin on Sept. 14 in Las Vegas generated widespread criticism of Davison in a fight that left Fury badly bloodied. On Dec. 15, Davison was fired and Steward was hired.

Fury, who says he is already in camp for the rematch, said he made the move because he had grown “stale.’’ He said he already had a relationship with Steward, the former Javan Hill and a nephew of the late Hall of Famer Emanuel Steward.

“I am fully confident he knows what he’s doing in bringing in Javan SugarHill Steward to take the corner for the Wilder rematch,’’ Warren said. “Few fighters know what’s best for them (more) than Fury and he will not have made the decision lightly.”

Anthony Joshua reiterates that heavyweight title goes through him

Anthony Joshua is conducting a campaign to remind everyone that he has most of the heavyweight belts and most of the clout.

Anthony Joshua isn’t fighting anybody in February, yet he continues to keep himself squarely in the middle of all the talk swirling around the Feb. 22 Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury rematch on Fox/ESPN pay-per-view.

It’s still not clear whether he’ll be Fury’s sparring partner or in training for his own fight, a mandatory defense against Kubrat Pulev about a month from now. Maybe he’ll do both. Maybe not.

But it is abundantly clear he will keep himself in the conversation as perhaps the only option for the Fury-Wilder winner. It’s almost as if Joshua is conducting a political campaign, tirelessly reminding everyone that he has most of the belts and most of the clout. Fury-Wilder II looms as the biggest heavyweight fight in years, but Joshua is talking as if the real biggie – the true main event – will happen later in the year. Against him and only him.

That might be why he wondered aloud on Sky Sports this week why Wilder has only one belt in 43 fights while he has three in 24.

Now he has turned to iTV to explain why he’s picking Fury, already a slight betting favorite, to win the sequel at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. Above all, he says, he thinks it would be easier to put together a fight with Fury than it would Wilder.

“The reason why I thought about it and why it came to fruition for me is because I feel like if Fury was to win that fight, I think he’d be more inclined to fight me next and quicker, than Wilder would,” Joshua said.

A Fury victory would also set up an all-U.K. showdown, perhaps for all of the pieces of the heavyweight title. Between now and then, however, belts and bucks could change hands.

Timing and circumstances might make it hard for Joshua to hold onto the three belts he took back in a rematch decision over Andy Ruiz Jr. on Dec. 7 in Saudi Arabia. He wants to keep those belts. But mostly he wants what everybody else wants: The Fury-Wilder winner

“That’s why I was rooting for Fury to win, because I just want to fight and collect my last belt,’’ Joshua said. “If I was a betting man, I think Fury wins.”

Frank Warren: Anthony Joshua should give up belts, fight Wilder-Fury II winner

Frank Warren suggests that Anthony Joshua give up his titles and wait to fight the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury II winnner.

Tyson Fury promoter Frank Warren is already looking beyond the Fury-Deontay Wilder rematch on Feb. 22, urging Anthony Joshua to relinquish his belts and wait for the winner.

Warren says Joshua’s mandatory title defenses could get in the way of putting together a fight between the unified heavyweight champion against the winner of the Wilder-Fury fight at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand on pay-per-view.

“If I was Anthony Joshua, I wouldn’t fight again until we know the winner of this fight and then make them make the fight,’ Warren told the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph. “I’d let them strip me of my titles and not fight anybody until the big one.”

Joshua, who holds three of the titles, is considering a mandatory defense against Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev in March, April or May of next year. But an upset is always a danger, especially in the heavyweight division. To wit: Andy Ruiz Jr.’s stunner on June 1 over Joshua, who went on to reclaim the belts in a rematch on Dec. 7 Saudi Arabia.

‘The one thing about Pulev is that he can whack,’’ Warren said. “So, for me, I would say: ‘You know what. I want to fight the winner of our fight (Wilder-Fury II).’

“Get all the parties together, work something out, maybe with some step-aside (money), because that’s what the public want.

“They want to know who’s the No. 1. The No. 3 and the No. 4 fought in Saudi. The No. 1 and No. 2 are fighting on Feb. 22.”

Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury begin promotion for Feb. 22 rematch

The promotion for Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury II has begun, after both fighters took to their social media to announce ticket information.

The official promotional campaign for Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury II has begun.

After weeks of radio silence, both fighters simultaneously took to social media to announce their highly anticipated heavyweight title rematch on Feb. 22 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, including ticket information.

“After February 22nd there will be no more unanswered questions,” Wilder wrote. “I will finish what I started, and this time @Tyson_Fury will not be getting up off that canvas so quickly. I’ve proven myself time and time again and I will do it again in February.”

The first fight, which took place at Staples Center on Dec. 1, 2018, ended in a controversial draw that saw the hard-hitting Wilder score two knockdowns but get largely outboxed by the dexterous Fury. The fight is famous for Fury’s ability to get off the canvas from what appeared to be a fight-ending punch in the 12th and final round.

“I’m happy and I’m excited that the rematch is finally happening,” Wilder said in a release. “I want to give the fans what they want to see. I’ve been doing it with my last three outings – Fury, Breazeale and Ortiz. They’ve been spectacular events – from my ring walks where I gather all the energy of the people, to my uniforms that I wear to help spread that energy.

“Then I give them what they all come for – the knockouts, and my knockouts have been amazing. I proved myself the first time and I’m ready to do it again. It was a very controversial fight. I promise my fans that there won’t be any controversy with this one. I’m going to finish it.”

“There’s no more ducking and diving,” Fury said in a release. “The date has been set, and the ‘Bomb Squad’ is about to be securely detonated and the real champion crowned as the world watches on for the most anticipated fight in years. This is unfinished business for me, but come February 22, this dosser will finally get what’s coming to him, and I can’t wait!”

The rematch will be a pay-per-view collaboration between rivals Top Rank/ESPN and PBC/Fox. The fight is expected to be heavily promoted on the networks during their respective NFL super bowl coverage. Top Rank boss Bob Arum has gone so far as to say that he expects 2 million buys. However the rematch plays out, various outlets have reported that a third fight is already in the works for the summer.