Tim Bradley says Deontay Wilder will likely suffer the same fate as the last fight with Tyson Fury, but he’d like to see him avoid that by letting his hands go.
WBC heavyweight champion Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) will be defending against Wilder on Saturday night in their important trilogy match at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Bradley feels that if the former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) throws a high number of right hands on Saturday, he’ll increase his chances of landing one of them hard enough to KO Fury.
Wilder can’t make the mistake of backing up, according to Bradley. If Wilder backs up, Fury will use his 270 to 290-lb bulk to maul Wilder like a giant Grizzly bear and stop him.
Deontay will need to walk through a lot of Fury’s punches for him to land his own shots. Fury will use the same high-pressure style of fighting as in the last fight.
There’s little chance Fury will be using a different game plan for the fight because the previous one was so successful.
Wilder must walk through fire
“It could be if Wilder comes into the fight with the mentality that he’s willing to go through fire to dish out his own firepower,” said Tim Bradley to Fighthub on the Wilder vs. Fury III clash.
“I like the fact he’s working on his technique. I like the fact that he’s working on his mechanics, but I’m not expecting him to be different,” said Bradley about Wilder.
“You add to a fighter’s style, and you can help them fundamentally and help them be aware of things that he wasn’t aware of.
“Distance, control, how to throw punches correctly. But at the same time, you don’t want to take away his nature.
“Deontay Wilder’s nature is he’s going to come get you. He’s not going to outbox Tyson Fury.
“His mentality going into the fight, he needs to be completely over that knockout loss. He has to be over that because he can’t carry that into the ring with him.
“That’s the toughest part about this. It’s been some time, I know it’s been a long time, but he’s been dreaming about it every single night because he’s that type of guy,” said Bradley about Wilder being haunted by his loss to Fury.
Wilder has got to hit, move, and cloak his right hand so that Fury can’t see it.
Throwing combinations sounds easier said than done because Wilder won’t get a chance to throw a lot of shots with Fury on top of him.
Like in the last fight, Fury will dodge Wilder’s shots while on the way in, nail him with some hard punches and then tie him and lean on him with his total 270+-lb weight.
Deontay needs a high punch output
“If he can come, be aggressive and let his hands go, the more opportunities he lets his right hand go, the more opportunities he’s going to have to land that shot on Tyson Fury,” Bradley said.
“But if he sits back and tries to be cute and try and be defensive, Fury is going to pick him to pieces in the same way and put him on his heels.
“One thing Wilder has to understand is his right hand is vicious when he’s coming forward. His right hand isn’t vicious when he’s going backward. If he’s going forward, he can deliver that right hand with full power and full force.
“So, he should move forward, back up Tyson Fury. Not only that. Jab, an educated jab to the head and body, chest. Switch it up. Those are the fundamentals he needs to add to his game but still being himself.
“This [Wilder’s brain] has to be strong too because as soon as he gets hit, he could very well bounce back to what he normally does. That’s what they typically do.
“They’ve been trained a certain way, and this is all he knows how to do. You get hit in there, and all that goes out the window. So he’s going to have to be mentally tough,” said Bradley.
The hard part for Wilder to throw a lot of shots is that Fury is going to grab him in a clinch each time he throws a lot and lean on him with his weight.
One of the critical things Fury used to weaken Wilder’s legs was all the leaning he was doing during the clinches initiated by him.
It’s unclear if Wilder’s new trainer Malik Scott noted Fury’s clinching in the last fight. If Malik didn’t, Wilder needs to dump him quickly and find a quality trainer that can help him.
A new trainer won’t help him for the Fury fight because if he loses on Saturday, he can forget about getting another fight against him.
Bradley expects the same results as last Fury – Wilder fight
“I think Fury is going to do whatever he said he’s going to do,” said Bradley. “He said he’s going to push him back.
“I’m not sure what his game plan will be this time around, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be the same because when you find a weakness in a fighter and you work on it, it just becomes your stronger weakness. So they might be a little stronger at it, but it’s still a weakness.
“So, pushing back Wilder and putting him on his heels, that’s a weakness. Yeah, he’s [Wilder] working on his movement, but it’s still a weakness. Fury is still going to try and exploit that; he’s still going to try and push it back in some way.
“It might not be soon, and early but he’s still going to try and get into the punching power of Deontay Wilder.
“The most likely thing? The same thing that happens,” said Bradley when asked the likely scenario for the trilogy match between Wilder and Fury this Saturday.
“That’s probably the most likely thing that’s going to happen because Fury psychologically has an advantage over him, and fury already knows what he needs to do.
“You have a ring general like Fury that knows what he needs to do. He’s just going to go in there and do it.
“So it’s up to Deontay Wilder to make things different, to change some things. And the only way I see him changing things is by letting them dogs go.
“Letting them hands go. Be in tip-top shape, so you got to be able to compete with him on the physical level as well,” said Bradley.
Hopefully, for Wilder’s sake, his new trainer Malik Scott has impressed upon him the need to not let Fury back him up like he did the entire fight last time they met in 2020.
Wilder can avoid being backed up is to stay on the move and not standing directly in front of Fury. If Wilder stays in one place, Fury will use his 270+ lb bulk to walk him down, club him and use his weight to lean on him.
Bradley didn’t mention what Wilder should do if Fury fouls him with rabbit punches, leans on him, puts him in headlocks, and elbows him.
If the referee is letting it happen like last time Wilder battled Fury, then the Bronze Bomber may need to give him a taste of his own medicine.
