This time, I love eating my words
Conrad M. Cariño
In my column last week, I said it very clearly that the boxing world should not count on Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder squaring off any time soon, citing many reasons like boxing promoters biding time to inflate the purse for the megafight.
Guess what? The two heavyweight giants are set to clash, and this was made known after Fury easily decisioned Franceso Pianeta over the weekend with Wilder watching at ringside. Wilder then climbed to the ring to have a face-off with Fury that turned hilarious when the Irish fighter gestured he would kiss the American heavyweight. That was weird!
Nonetheless, they announced that their fight was on and based on a report from BBC Sports, Fury-Wilder will likely take place in November and December.
So I ended up eating my words! And I love it this time!
Fury-Wilder is among the most-awaited match-ups in the heavyweight division, along with Wilder vs Anthony Joshua, and Joshua vs Tyson. So at this point, Joshua will just have to watch from the sidelines and start building up his courage this early because for sure, the boxing world will clamor for him to face the winner of Fury-Wilder.
Fury and Wilder are both undefeated, with the Irish boxer sporting 27-0 with 19 KOs and the American fighter 40-0 with 39 KOs.
In recent fights, however, Wilder showed more ferocity than Fury who took on what I would call patsies, tomato cans, or cream puffs that are deadly additions to a boxer’s diet because that does not make them tough. Literally.
Fury stopped an overmatch Sefer Seferi last June and decisoned Pianeta over the weekend, in what could qualify as a borefest. I wonder if Wilder fell asleep during the Fury-Pianeta fight.
On the other hand, Wilder stopped Bermane Siverne in just one round in a rematch staged in November 2017 and figured in a real war with then undefeated Luis Ortiz last March. Wilder stopped Ortiz in the 10th round, while Siverne was the only boxer to take Wilder to the distance, in their first fight in January 2015.
Looking at their past two fights, Wilder was definitely more formidable while Fury looked like he was more in a sparring match with substandard opposition. Wilder was also in better shape in his last two fights compared to Fury, who looked like he needs to go the weight lifting room to make his built more solid.
When it comes to fighting style, Wilder definitely has the edge in power while Fury has better boxing skills.
Fury brings to the fight four world heavyweight titles from the International Boxing Federation, International Boxing Organization, World Boxing Organization, and World Boxing Association for the “super” version. Wilder holds the World Boxing Council world heavyweight title.
But the number of titles Fury and Wilder currently hold means nothing when the two meet in November or December – what matters more are both are undefeated and it is a rarity that two heavyweights with unblemished records meet in the world title fight.
So who loses his “0” in November and December?
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