Heading into the 12th round in December against Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury appeared to be on the verge of completing his comeback and becoming the WBC heavyweight champion.
But Wilder showed why he's arguably the most devastating puncher in the sport when he blasted the Englishman with a right hand and followed with a left hook that connected flush while Fury was on his way down. Wilder retreated to his corner in celebration as it surely appeared that Fury was set to suffer the first loss of his professional career.
Somehow, Fury (28-0-1, 20 KOs) managed to rise to his feet before the count of 10 and fought valiantly until the final bell as the fight was scored a split draw. The 31-year-old admits the severity of the blows from Wilder would have sent any normal man into unconsciousness. However, he isn't cut from the same cloth as the normal man.
“As easy as I got up, I may never have got up," Fury said during an appearance on Sirius XM to preview his Sept. 14 fight vs. Otto Wallin. "That was the type of punch that sometimes people won’t wake up from. Especially hitting me with a right hand, and as I was going down he hit me with a left hook as well.
“So that should have been concrete, goodnight Vienna. But the 'Gypsy King' rose like a phoenix from the ashes off the canvas to rally back from the 12th, and it was an epic round."
Typically, when a human being gets hit the way Fury did by Wilder, you don't get up, and you surely are incapable of competently fighting back. But that wasn't so in the case of the lineal heavyweight champion, who claims he didn't feel anything from the blows.
“It didn’t hurt at all," Fury said. "I didn’t feel any pain, so probably not.
“I think when you get hit in certain areas in the head, you lose your coordination; you lose everything. It just goes for a second or so. But when you come around you either get up and your legs are gone, or you get up, and you’re OK like I was in that 12th round.”