Tyson Fury Destroys Deontay Wilder to Become the new WBC Heavyweight Champion
Written by SOURCE on February 23, 2020
It wasn’t a just beating. Tyson Fury dominated, dismantled, and did what nobody has ever done to Deontay Wilder.
With constant aggression and power—not to mention nearly 43-pound weight advantage—Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) bullied, brawled, and battered his way to become the new WBC heavyweight champion of the world, handing the previously unbeaten Wilder his first professional loss in startlingly fashion.
“The king has returned,” Fury roared in the ring immediately after the fight.
The ultra-hyped rematch following their pair’s controversial first fight in 2018 that ended in a split draw did not live up to the epic hype because Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOshardest puncher in boxing history. Simply put, Fury stuck to his game-plan to go after Wilder and keep pressuring him. Wilder, who had )>KOed his two previous opponents in rematches and knocked Fury down twice in their first fight, never landed any shots that appeared to hurt Fury. Meanwhile, Fury dropped Wilder twice—once in the third with a shot to the head and again in the fifth with a shot to the body. After taking a ton of punishment, referee Kenny Bayless finally stopped the fight with 1:39 left in the seventh round when Wilder’s corner said he had enough.
“I just wish my corner would’ve let me go out on my shield,” Wilder, who was taken to the hospital for observation and did not appear at the post-fight press conference, said immediately after his loss. “I’m a warrior. That’s what I do.”
Wilder’s co-trainer Mark Breland was the one who threw in the towel to stop the fight, but co-trainer Jay Deas said he disagreed with the action. Deas said Wilder was taken to the hospital to have a cut in his ear stitched up that threw off his equilibrium.
In front of a packed crowd of 15,816 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas that was raucous and rowdy, Fury, the lineal heavyweight champion, completed his improbable comeback from the depths of depression, drug use, weight gain, and irrelevancy that saw him vacate the titles he took from Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 and leave the sport for two and a half years. He became the second heaviest fighter, according to ESPN, to win a heavyweight title since 1962. Fury also ended Wilder’s five-year run as the WBC champ and prevented the Bronze Bomber from defending his belt for an 11th time which would have passed Muhammad Ali’s mark.
We could see a third match between the fighters since reportedly there is a rematch clause in the contract, but that’s up to Wilder to exercise his right within the next 30 days. When, or if, that happens remains to be seen, but Wilder’s advisor Shelly Finkel said he expects Wilder to exercise the rematch clause. Deas said “it seems a natural” that Wilder will want a rematch.
Saturday’s pay-per-view was a unique partnership between rival broadcasters (ESPN and FOX) and promotional teams (Top Rank and PBC), but fight organizers appeared to be happy in the immediate aftermath. The event, according to Top Rank, grossed $16.9 million, the highest for a fight in Sin City’s rich boxing history.
Per the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Wilder and Fury both made $5 million, but stand to make tens of millions of dollars more based on the final pay-per-view numbers of which they get a percentage. Reportedly, the two could walk away with at least $40 million.
The biggest fight in boxing in nearly 20 years predictably attracted a litany of stars. Patrick Mahomes, Magic Johnson, Draymond Green, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Terence Crawford, Errol Spence, Triple H, and Jon Gruden, were among those in the building.
Fury, who came out to the ring sitting on a throne, reveled in his incredible performance, as he should. Nobody has ever knocked around Wilder like that—the last time he hit the canvas was in his 13th professional fight in 2010—and he’ll never be looked at the same after suffering such a beatdown. He weighed-in at 231 pounds, his heaviest, and appeared to lose his legs after the first knockdown. He struggled the rest of the fight to keep his balance and was helpless to avoid Fury’s punishing shots. According to CompuBox, Fury out-punched Wilder 267 to 141 and out-landed him 82 to 34.
“A big shout-out to Deontay Wilder. He came here tonight and he manned up and he really did show the heart of a champion,” Fury said.
Before he left the ring, Fury, probably the premier entertainer in sports these days thanks to his quick wit and incredible charisma, did a quick rendition of Don McLean’s “American Pie, Pt. 1” and was joined by thousands of his British fans who vastly outnumbered Wilder supporters.
