Sitting on stage during Thursday's final press conference, Deontay Wilder drew on the symbolism of his tracksuit to make a sinister proclamation.
"I’m wearing my red outfit because I want it back in blood."
Although that's part of "The Bronze Bomber's" redemption mantra heading into the highly-anticipated trilogy fight with WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in Las Vegas on Saturday night, it was roughly 20 months ago when Wilder was left in a pool of his own blood — as a result of a savage seventh-round TKO beatdown at the hands of the "Gypsy King."
Since that time, the sticking question has lingered: Has Wilder recovered enough from that assault to achieve that "redemption, retaliation and retribution" that he spoke about during the press conference? Furthermore, can he beat the undefeated Fury?
It's certainly possible when you carry dynamite in your right hand with a 93 percent knockout ratio to his name. He did drop Fury twice in their inaugural December 2018 clash which ended in a split draw.
And although their rematch was a one-sided decimation, go back and look at the first and second rounds of that fight. Wilder did catch Fury with that right hand at the 2:08 and 2:02 marks of the first round, though he wasn’t able to completely sit on either punch squarely.
He caught Fury with a cleaner right that he detonated at 2:10 of the second round and even briefly wobbled him with a wild, lunging right with five seconds remaining in the same frame. The third round launched Fury’s brutal knockdowns of Wilder until “The Bronze Bomber” was defeated four rounds later.
Still, Wilder can win the trilogy fight Saturday night. Let’s not forget that the former WBC champion defended the title 10 consecutive times before losing to Fury. That streak included nine knockouts sans the split draw with the “Gypsy King.” The 35-year-old Wilder still has enough scintillating power in that right hand to knock Fury out. All it takes is one timed punch that Wilder is able to sit on and drive all his force through to put Fury down.
Wilder’s new trainer, Malik Scott, believes that his charge has it in him to defeat Fury without a drastic reinvention of his boxing style.
“I went into Deontay’s toolbox and pulled everything out that he did well,” Scott said Thursday. “I wanted to make sure that we drilled it over and over again. I didn’t teach him anything new. Deontay Wilder can do it all, I just pulled some of those things out of him.
“When it comes to working on Deontay’s fundamentals, he has good fundamentals, he just didn’t always use them,” he added. “I’m just reminding him about tools that he wasn’t using.”
Physical tools aside, though, has Wilder recovered enough mentally to be able to uncork that decisive punch and win? Throughout the promotion for this trilogy fight, Wilder has maintained allegations that Fury cheated to win their rematch.
“It’s only made me better as a man and as a fighter to see certain things that happened in the second fight,” Wilder said Thursday. “It’s made me even hungrier than before. I needed everything that happened in that fight. It was really a blessing in disguise.”
He added moments later: “I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Your legacy only dies when the desire for the sport dies. I’m well alive right now.”
And then came another ominous warning.
“My energy is like my mind, it’s very violent. I’m just ready to go October 9.”
Fury, who believes Wilder is in denial, isn’t buying what his rival was selling and hasn’t since February 2020.
“Wilder is a weak person mentally and I’m going to knock him out on Saturday night,” Fury said during the same media session. “I obliterated him in the rematch and I see much more of the same in the third fight.”
Fury added: “He says he wants to do bad things to me and that he’s got all this anger and aggression. Those who hold hot coals with aggression are the ones who get burned. He knows he’s lost twice and that he’s going to lose the third time.”
Wilder’s ability to change that trajectory could come down to whether he’s truly made peace and accepted what happened to him Feb. 22, 2020 enough to fight with clarity and not anger Saturday night.
DAZN News will bring you all the live updates, results and highlights from Fury-Wilder III on Saturday night.