By Gabriel Princewill-
WBC heavyweight champion Deontey Wilder (37-0(36) states with conviction that the IBF were wrong to strip Tyson Fury of the IBF title he won when he beat Wladimir Klitschko last year November.
The IBF gave Fury 90 days to defend the title after a deadline for purse bids set for December 11, 2017- 3 weeks from his championship victory- to defend the titles. Boxers are generally expected to have a two months break from training after a major fight. This
Tyson Fury was stripped of the third belt he seized from Wladimir Klitschko following a unanimous victory last year in Germany.However, Fury committed the cardinal sin of agreeing to a contractual agreement to grant Klitschko an immediate rematch in the event of an unexpected victory in their big clash. An agreement that was contrary to IBF rules
OPPORTUNITY
Fury, who was heading for the biggest opportunity of his career and his biggest pay day, was not about to miss out the golden opportunity. The gypsy giant had waited a while for his chance, to the extent of even suggesting that the former reigning world champion was avoiding him. He accepted the rematch clause for an immediate rematch if he won, but this clause was effectively tantamount to a coercion.
It was a condition presented by team Klitschko for Fury to have a crack at a title he was mandated to have. This condition was contrary to the IBF rules.
Rule 3B of the IBF states this about return bouts: No contract for a Championship contest shall contain any clause or provision whatsoever guaranteeing or in any way assuring or promising either contestant a return Championship contest where such clause or provision interferes with the mandatory defense of the title”.
”That’s the corruption side of boxing, Wilder told the eye of media.com. It’s a tough sport to be in, and there’s got to be a medium of communication. The federation has got to understand that the body is not a robot, it needs time to replenish itself, Wilder stated. You have two fighters that could have injury and brain damage.They should have rested him after the fight”.
”He had 30 days to prepare for a defence, and the only person who could have taken that fight after 30 days is me.I am always in shape, always pushing it in the gym. They should have given him at least a year, definitely no less than two months”.
The IBF were in error not to identify their former champion, Wladimir Klitschko, as being in breach of their rules, and should have wasted no time in telling him so.
KLITSCHKO’s TEAM
Fury’s team palpably lacked the wherewithal to initiate a communication process to pass this information to Klitschko’s team, and compel Klitschko to allow Fury to defend the IBF belt in consistence with the rules. One wonders what purpose their lawyers served during the dispute. They either were not put to use or were inefficient at achieving a sensible resolution.
IBF FAILURE
The IBF failed woefully in enforcing their rules, but this may have been due to a nonchalant attitude by Fury or his team. Fury did not make enough effort to arrange a defence of one of his newly acquired belts, but instead disputed the matter, and let the belt go. He arguably did not want to risk losing the fight and missing out on the bigger return big pay day, which he has now had to miss out on.
He has himself to blame- a solid world champion does not allow one of his belts to slip away without a credible fight. However, the IBF did not do enough, and in fact allowed their rules to be breached, despite stripping Fury.
Fury has cited the fact he was unfairly stripped of his belt, as a contributory factor to his depression, but falls short of sharing responsibility for his own failure of rectifying the breach by Klitschko through effective dialogue.
Anthony Joshua who eventually defeated Charles Martin after a default victory over the Russian, is now poised to snatch Fury’s other two belts, once a deal to meet Wladimir Klitschko is finalised.
World champ Deontey Wilder said ”i like that fight, it is an intriguing fight. It keeps the division alive. I’ll go for the younger fighter to win this. I always miss out on the big fights, but I feel God is allowing everybody to eat right now, but I strongly believe I will beat all the heavyweights in the division. The attributes I bring to the table, I don’t see anybody beating me”.
I think it will be interesting to see how Klitschko handles Joshua, because he is used to smaller fighters. It is easier to control smaller fighters, but when Klitschko met a bigger fighter in Fury, he lost. That fight had a lot of moving around, a lot of contact instead of strategy”.
Deontay Wilder concluded with charitable words for Fury. ”I think he is human, he is going to make mistakes. He should stay out of social media, and come back strong. I still want that fight, I don’t want drugs to be the downfall of his career”.
Deontay Wilder who has amassed an estimated net worth of $10m, is widely considered the current best in the heavyweight division, and brings a gregarious personality to the sport. His well cut and toned figure reflects the sustained level of hard work he has invested into his training.
HEAVYWEIGHT SUPERSTAR
With Anthony Joshua being Britain’s ascending heavyweight superstar, a blockbuster mouthwatering clash between the pair for 2017 is gathering momentum. Wilder is America’s new heavywight superstar,since he is the first American to capture the WBC belt. Wilder told the eye of media.com ”I have the most prestigious belt of all, the same one Mohammed Ali and the other great fighter’s held”.
The 6ft 71/2 inch power house, remains confident he will be triumphant when the time comes.
”With big strong men, there has to be a strategy. If you look at boxing greats, they had a great strategy. They advanced a strategy that was greater than the others”