Las Vegas Nevada — Tyson Fury had the greatest win for any English boxer overseas as he put an end to the America’s Knock Out king Deontay Wilder with a completely aggressive and dominant performance.
Both Fury and Wilder made grand entrances in the MGM Grand. Wilder’s mask and costume alone cost him a whopping $60,000, LA Times reported. Fury on the other hand also spared no expense with his entrance: The Gypsy King had arrived, being carried to the ring on a throne.
The two giant fighters, the 6-foot-9 Brit and the 6-foot-7 American represent a new breed of heavyweight. Not only they both possess their own skill specialty — for Wilder, it’s insane punching power in his right hand, and for Fury, it’s extraordinary, if unconventional, ability — they are also ushering in a new era of enormous interest in boxing’s glamour division.
Tyson Fury dropped Wilder first in the third round with a big right hand that seemed to take the legs out of the champ. He put him down again in the fifth round with a left hand to the body.
Fury also hit Wilder’s ear, and seemed to lick the blood off his shoulder in a peculiar scene in the sixth round. As if that wasn’t enough fun for the night, Fury tried to lead the crowd in a singalong of “American Pie” after the fight. He knew all the words.
Strategically, he was aiming for the KO. It was clear since he had his American opponent down twice, though the second was ruled a slip. Wilder, yes, the baddest man on the planet for the new-generation — the one who has spent his career knocking opponents to the floor — was now the one looking in danger of being down and out for good.
Tyson Fury has now completed a full set of the world heavyweight belts by adding the WBC title and the Ring Magazine accolade to the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO prizes he held previously after defeating Wladimir Klitschko.
No one had roughed Deontay Wilder up like this except Tyson Fury. For one night only, as referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight in the seventh round, Fury did it. He won by referee stoppage, a statement every bit as impressive as his 2015 win over Klitschko, when he became the unified heavyweight champion.
And now Fury’s a champion again. As he beat his American opponent easily, causing a debut defeat onto Wilder, and sending him to hospital with a possible ear injury.
For Wilder it was a remarkable end to a streak that had seen him knock out 41 of his previous 43 rivals. But his catastrophic right hand was never a factor, and Fury seemed to walk through it. That was unlike the first fight 14 months ago when Wilder knocked Fury down twice on his way to a draw.
The Gypsy King rules once again.