Rapper D Smoke believes that the postponement of the trilogy match between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder gives the former champion a better chance when the pair eventually meet.
The Bronze Bomber went to arbitration to force a third match, which led to the cancellation of Fury’s planned undisputed heavyweight clash with Anthony Joshua.
Joshua then lined up a WBO defense against his mandatory, Oleksandr Usyk, while Fury was due to fight Wilder at the end of July until a coronavirus outbreak, including the champion, in his camp put an end to that. They will now fight in October.
Speaking on the DAZN Boxing Show, D Smoke — who has walked out Wilder in the past — explained that: “I think this fight being postponed is probably going to work in Wilder’s favor.
“It gives them a little bit more time to add elements to his game that he and his new coach are working on.
“I hope that there's a fitness regimen in there that will probably mirror something like what AJ would do. You know, I think I think the reason why the AJ fight is a little riskier for somebody like Tyson Fury is because you're not just going to overpower him in the way Fury did in fight number two.
“Deontay Wilder, we know he has that one-punch power that makes any other fighter respect him. But when you have Fury, who outboxed Wilder both fights, with the exception of the moments when he got knocked down, because we know you take away those two knockdowns and fight one then Fury wins on the cards.
“Fury, who knows he has the natural boxing ability, and his fighting IQ is like that of a smaller fighter, if we're gonna be completely honest. So it was a big part of his strategy to come in heavier. So the combination of him being the heavier person in the ring and having that boxing ability, is what gave him the edge in fight number two.”
While Wilder claimed all kinds of reasons for his defeat, including Fury weighting his gloves, somebody spiking his water, and a gratuitously heavy pre-fight chainmail ensemble, D Smoke had little time for the excuses.
“I don't know about conspiracies. I do know that Wilder is a powerful fighter and any big man has to respect him.
“Now he leans out against somebody who's actually a larger, larger person, if not for punching power, just for his ability to withstand the weight of another person in there. So that's what I hope is part of the regimen. I do like some of what I'm seeing, but I hope that the training regimen isn't more about getting him to box the way that Fury does, because that's something that’s not going to happen.
“That's something that you get from childhood, on an amateur fight that you fought at a sprint, you know, back to back to back, you know. So that's not going to happen but to add a certain element of fitness, just a couple offensive weapons.”