Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder delivered as entertaining of a promotional buildup toward their fight last December as boxing fans will ever see, with the heavyweights trading colorful verbal jabs at every opportunity. Then in the ring, they produced an instant classic, slugging it out for 12 rounds toward a thrilling split draw.
During an interview with DAZN’s Ak & Barak, the “Gypsy King” revealed that their 2018 fight was nearly 10 years in the making as a result of a chance encounter between the two.
According to Fury, he spotted Wilder at a boxing show back in 2010 in Sheffield, England. The lineal heavyweight champion says Wilder was in his home country helping fellow Brit David Haye prepare for a fight at the time and was standing in the corner, not recognized by even hardcore boxing fans.
That’s when Fury immediately recognized the opportunity before him, even claiming to have told promoters that he was going to “stir it up a little bit.”
“I got into the ring and said ‘Hey everybody, we got the American hope over here,’” Fury said according to his best recollection. “I said, ‘Deontay Wilder is going to be heavyweight champion of the world one day. And I said ‘So will I and we’re going to fight each other one day. It’s going to be the best of America vs. the best of Britain. And when that day comes, it’s going to be a great fight.’”
As the British crowd gave its approval, Fury turned to Wilder to deliver a personal message of gamesmanship, advising that both of them make it a point to talk about each other publicly to build buzz for the fight.
“‘We’ll build a massive fight over the next few years,’” he remembers telling Wilder.
That massive fight would take place last December, with Fury telling Ak & Barak that “it probably would have happened a long time earlier, but obviously I was out with my own problems,” clearly referencing his bout with drugs, alcohol and depression.
But the lineal heavyweight champ overcame all that and out-boxed Wilder for 12 rounds and would've had his hand raised in victory were it not for the two knockdowns he suffered during the fight, including one that he just managed to beat the count on during the 12th round.
In the interview with Ak and Barak on "Sweet Scientists," Fury also goes into detail about his battle with depression, and admits that he fought Wilder before he was ready. The second part of the interview is scheduled for next week, with Fury giving his thoughts on the Andy Ruiz Jr.-Anthony Joshua rematch Dec. 7 and Dillian Whyte. You can watch that, along with other episodes of "Sweet Scientists," on DAZN.