Adam Smith of Sky Sports is leaning in the direction of WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘The Bronze Bomber’ Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) to defeat Tyson ‘The Gypsy King’ Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs) in their rematch next month on February 22 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Smith thinks that if Wilder connects cleanly with one of his big right-hand shots like he did in the 12th round of his first fight with Fury, he’ll knock him out this time.
Adam has doubts whether the 6’9″ Fury will be able to take getting hit like that by Wilder a second time. Nevertheless, Smith believes that Fury should have won the first fight, and he thinks that he can definitely beat him on points if he’s at the top of his game on the 22nd of February. The first Wilder-Fury fight was scored a 12 round draw in December 2018 in Los Angeles, California.
Fury got dropped twice by Wilder, and seemingly knocked unconscious in the 12th. Although Fury beat the count, there’s a lot of questions whether he was given the benefit of a long count. Moreover, there’s criticism of the referee for even giving a count. Fury was unconscious, and fights are often stopped when a fighter is in that state. To say that Fury was given a lucky break by receiving a count is putting it lightly.
Wilder vs. Fury 2 will be shown on ESPN pay-per-view in the U.S, and on Sky Sports in the UK.
Deontay Wilder has that ‘FREAKISH power’
“One shot is all you need when you’re Deontay Wilder,” said Adam Smith to Fighthub. “He’s said it beforehand, and he’s proven it time and time again. And he’s got freakish power, and probably the biggest puncher I’ve ever seen at ringside, certainly as a heavyweight. You got back to Earnie Shavers, George Foreman, and obviously [Mike] Tyson, and Lennox Lewis. Those are massive punchers, but you’d be hard pushed. Tommy Hearns was my hero.
“What he did to Roberto Duran that no one else ever did,” Smith said about Hearns. “It’s freakish, and Wilder has got that. He was being out-boxed [by Luis Ortiz], but power is all he needed. When you’ve got that, you’re A. Box Office, and B. you’re unpredictable, and I think that combination, plus his charisma he has outside of the ring, stands him an amazing stead in 2020.
“I think Wilder is the best with natural power,” said Smith. “David Haye told me a couple of weeks ago that he’d shared the ring with huge punchers, but Deontay Wilder is by FAR the biggest puncher he’s ever been in with. He’s a completely different level, and he’s sparred with him,” said Smith.
Wilder might not care about giving rounds away to Fury in the rematch, as he’ll be looking to line him up for a big right hand. Fury will probably be moving a lot, leaning backwards, and doing his utmost to take away Wilder’s right hand from him.
Obviously, Fury will be able to keep out of range of Wilder’s right hand through periods in the fight, but it’s going to be difficult to do it for the entire fight. The real problem that Fury has is with his energy levels. Big fighters that weight close to 270 lbs have a difficult time moving for 12 rounds, and Fury will need to move nonstop for him to keep from getting hit by Wilder.
Can Fury move for 12 rounds without needing a rest break? No, he can’t. He didn’t do in his last fight against Otto Wallin, and surely won’t be able to do that in the rematch with Wilder.
If Fury is at the top of his game, he beats Wilder – Smith
“The right hand that he [Wilder] smashed Breazeale with, and smashed Ortiz with, you can’t do anything about that,” Smith said. “It can happen from the first moments in the first round to the last moments of the last round, as you saw with Tyson Fury at the end. It makes the Tyson Fury [vs. Wilder] fight even more compelling now, because I thought Tyson Fury won the first fight. But Deontay Wilder will believe he can knock him out at any point, but Fury can out-box him.
“It’s going to be fascinating,” said Smith on the Wilder vs. Fury 2 rematch. “I don’t think there’s anything different,” said Smith when asked if anything has changed with Fury and Wilder in the year since they first fought. “Deontay Wilder can bang, and Tyson Fury is the more skillful fighter and boxer.
“If Fury is on the top of his game, and can out-box him for 12 rounds, then he wins the fight,” said Smith. “But he can’t get caught. It was amazing that he got up in the 12th round, there was some luck attached to that as well, because it was impossible how he did it. I think if Wilder hits him again, I think he’ll almost certainly knock him out, but Fury can win every round on points,” said Smith.
It might not matter if Fury is in the top of his game for the rematch with Wilder. If he can’t handle Wilder’s punching power, it won’t matter how great his form is. Fury can look marvelous for 11 rounds, and then run into one of Wilder’s right hands in the 12th, and wind up getting knocked out. In their first fight, Fury showed great form for the first eight rounds, but then he was knocked down in the 9th.
Fury looked in great form in rounds 10 and 11, but then he was knocked out cold in the 12th. So basically, Fury’s form will have nothing to do with the outcome on February 22. It comes down to Fury’s ability to take Wilder’s power. If he can’t, then he’ll end up like Luis Ortiz and Dominic Breazeale in beating adding to Wilder’s knockout record.
Wilder only needs one punch to win
“It’s a very, very interesting fight,” Smith continued on Wilder-Fury 2 rematch. “I think it has more value now, because Fury has been in WWE, and he’s been out and about, really marketing himself in many different ways. Wilder has had his single-punch knockouts [against Dominic Breazeale and Luis Ortiz] this year, and I think it makes it even bigger. I think Luis Ortiz with his age was slightly overconfident as the rounds ticked on.
“He [Wilder] always needed just that one punch, and I think he was looking for that right hand actually from early on,” Smith said about Wilder’s knockout of Ortiz. “I don’t think he [Wilder] even bothered with anything else. He was just waiting for that moment in time, which is extraordinary when you think about it. All the tactics, and all the build-up, and southpaw sparring, but all you’re actually looking for is one shot.
“When there’s a slight mistake, a slight adjustment in feet, a hand down, a little bit of overconfidence, and boom, there it is,” said Smith in raving about Wilder’s power. “I think they found it early with Breazeale, because Breazeale opened up really quickly. Ortiz didn’t. I think Ortiz was sensible to box, and he was winning it in style. You’ve got to feel sorry for him. It was a great performance from Ortiz, but when you’ve got that great power that Deontay Wilder has, that’s the equalizer at any time, and that’s what makes him so scary and so watchable,” said Smith.
Wilder’s ‘freakish’ punching power is what makes Fury’s job so difficult. He’s got to be able to avoid Wilder’s right hand for 36 minutes, and that’s not going to be easy for him to do. It’s certainly a bad sign that Fury’s last opponent had him hurt in the 12th, and cut him to ribbons in the 3rd.
That fight clearly should have been stopped by the ringside doctor due to Fury’s massive cut over his right eye. Once again, Fury was given a lucky break by one of the officials by the fight not being stopped. You can argue that Fury should have been stopped by Wilder and Wallin if a different ringside doctor and/or a referee was working those fights. That’s one of the reasons why Wilder wants to make sure Fury can’t get up this time, because if he’s given a long count, like some believe he was given in the first fight, then, he might be able to get up and continue fighting.
Smith leaning towards Wilder knocking out Fury
“That’s a good question,” said Smith when asked, ‘who wins the Wilder vs. Fury rematch?’ “I thought Fury won the last fight quite easily. I thought the draw was a ridiculous decision. Despite Wilder’s two knockdowns, I thought Fury won the fight, but you don’t know the answer to the next one.
“I think from what I’ve seen in the last few weeks, I probably lean towards Wilder to find a way at some point, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Fury stood on his head and out-boxed him,” Smith said. ” depends a little bit on what Fury turns up. If he’s mentally and physically the best absolutely he could be, he could win the fight on points again, but he’s going to have to be ever so careful.
“If he gets complacent or overconfident like Tyson does, and finds things too easy, that perilous, and that’s very dangerous. So it’s going to be one that we can’t wait for,” said Smith on the Wilder vs. Fury rematch.
A fighter can only take being hurt as badly as Fury was in the first fight so many times before they lose they eventually start getting knocked out left and right. If Fury can’t keep his bike for 12 rounds, Wilder will get to him eventually and stop him like he did with Luis Ortiz.
