By Gabriel Princewill-
British boxing fans were enthused by Tyson Fury’s heroic display on Saturday as he outboxed and out muscled the previously formidable Deontey Wilder at the MGM Grand last Saturday.
The gypsy king whose entrance was majestic as he sat on a throne singing, put on a memorable exhibition en route to wresting the WBC title from the five year American reigning world champion. Fury implemented to perfection a plan he had vowed to execute;namely to force the fearsome punching Wilder on the back foot and take the fight to him.
Having substituted his former trainer, Ben Davison for Emmanuel Steward’s nephew from Detroit, Javan Sugar Hill, who marshalled out an ingenuous plan to dethrone Wilder, Fury efefctivelyshut his doubters up sceptics were doubtful the move would prove productive.
The U.S knock artist had dismissed Fury plans as wishful thinking, stating that the gypsy king did not believe the claims he was professing. Ironically, Wilder who had announced that an outcome can be called into existence if believed by the one who speaks it- may have only contributed to the supreme confidence of Fury through those words. Fury undoubtedly believed his words and demonstrated it to precision. He boxed assertively, aggressively, and dirty at times, making life impossible for the champion in that lonely ring.
It was all part of the orchestrated plan; one that nullified both Wilder’s self belief and meditation, The magical bomb from Wilder’s right hand was never giving an opportunity to detonate. Fury has always presented an air of invincibility, despite not looking the part up until his defeat of Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. The 6ft 9 unbeaten heavyweight has often sounded ostensibly outlandish claims of future greatness in the past, much to the ridicule of his hearers.
Last Saturday Fury opened another chapter in his mysterious boxing journey of erratic performances, taking the fight to the champion from the outset and forcing Wilder on the back foot just as he said he would do. After an illegal blow in the second round sent Wilder to the floor, but he never seemed to get any meaningful rythym to suggest any chance of beating a man with whom he had fought to a draw in December 2018.
Fury was confident and emboldened in each passing round as he jabbed and threw his shots with authority, targeting a somewhat bewildered Wilder at will from the third round when he floored the champion with just 30 seconds left til the end of the round.
After a body shot floored Wilder again in the fifth round , it became obvious that only a miracle will see Wilder turn the fight around. Whilst Fury’s team had been united in their approach, division appeared to have beset Wilder’s team after Mark Breland was heavily criticised by his own team for throwing in the towel to save Wilder from taking more punishment.
‘I’m the head coach of the team but we do things a little bit differently, 99% of the time the head coach is also the guy who’s lead coach in the corner.
‘Ours is a little bit more like an American football team where the head coach doesn’t necessarily call the plays – you have an offensive and defensive co-coordinator. ‘What happened between rounds was Mark said something about throwing the towel in and I told him, “Don’t do that”, I didn’t think he should do that. ‘Then the fight went on a little bit longer and then I saw the towel go in so I haven’t talked to Mark about it but we’ll talk about it and figure out what exactly happened there.’