By Tim Parsons-
There were heated scenes in Los Angeles as Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury traded verbal blows ahead of their heavyweight bout Saturday.
Tempers flared out of hand at the Staples Center as both men confronted each other before being separated by their teams and security as the news conference descended into chaos. The ugly scenes were sparked after Tyson Fury questioned the profile of Wilder in America
Wilder shouted in his opponent’s face, whilst Fury was bare-chested after removing his shirt. Fury had spoken about how far gypsies had come along in history, when Wilder responded by making reference to the history of black people- something Fury dismissed as irrelevant to their upcoming fight.
WBC heavyweight champion, Wilder, then said: “You say your people having been fighting for 200 years? My people have been fighting for 400 years.”
Fury, responded:
“This is above all that. We’re fighting for the most gentlemanly, prized, heavyweight championship of the world. He instigated all that. I didn’t get up there and start screaming and shouting in his face.
“He started with all the ‘400 years of pain’ and all this. He must think that’s going to get in my mind, ‘Oh he’s had 400 years of pain, I won’t fight him on Saturday night because he’s had 400 years of pain.’
Well, my people have been persecuted for thousands of years. Let’s not go there.
“This isn’t a battle of who’s been persecuted longest.
This is a battle between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder. It’s not a battle of races or cultures.”
“I’m telling you now, Wilder is getting knocked out by me on Saturday night,” said the 30-year-old. “On Saturday night the whole world will know him as the person who Fury knocked out.
“This swagger is not genuine, it’s fake – a snide and a fraud. I look at him and don’t see a bad man, I see a pretender.” Fury blamed the bust up on Tyson. He said:”It was a just a load of rubbish really. I’m quite disappointed that it had to come to that sort of stuff, those tactics, at such a high level.”
The former WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO champion later offered a back-handed apology on behalf of him and Wilder. He later told Sky Sports:
“I apologise for the conduct on both of our parts because tempers were high and he does need to prove a point.