AFCON 2025
Photo credit : skysports
By Chima Azu
The bitter rivalry between the Champion Tyson Fury and the challenger Deontay Wilder is set to go down in the early hours of Sunday for the trilogy at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Wilder will be hoping to avenge his loss in February 2020 where he was defeated in the seventh round by the Briton.
Fury was prepared to fight his British rival Anthony Joshua for the undisputed title in August but an arbitrator ruled that Fury was bound by a clause in his rematch for a trilogy which forced him to have his third fight with the American. The fight was set for June 24 but was later postponed when Fury tested positive for COVID-19. A fight with Joshua might not happen looking at the shocking defeat to the former cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk where he lost his three belts. A rematch with the Ukrainian might probably end the same way or even worse with the manner in which the first fight ended with Usyk being head and shoulder better than Joshua.
Wilder held the WBC heavyweight title from 2015-2020 and has defended it ten times in succession before losing to Fury. The Bronze Bomber has had 44 fights, won 42 and 41 were KOs, he has lost just 1 and drew 1. Tyson Fury on the other hand popularly known as the Gypsy King is a two time heavyweight champion and previously held the unified WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO title. Fury has had 31 fights, won 30 and drew just 1. The draw on their records was between both of them in their first fight.
The Gypsy King dominated their rematch with his size advantage and went toe-to-toe with his speed and jab. He later sent Wilder to the ground on two occasions and the Bronze Bomber struggled to get back to his best with blood coming out of his ear. Fury later punched him to the canvas again in what was ruled as a legitimate knockdown in the fifth round after consecutive body shots. Fury continued with his aggressive style which left the American boxer bleeding from his mouth as well. It all ended when Wilder’s corner has had enough and they threw in the towel in the seventh round to end the fight.
These two heavyweight boxers with contrasting styles, Wilder a knockout type of boxer and Fury a more tactical and all round fighter makes this bout a must watch because it’s definitely going to be an explosive fight with so much pride at stake.
