The heavyweight’s comments after his loss to Tyson Fury are best euphemised as misjudged – but he is not the first boxer to be pilloried for offering up a bizarre excuseCan anyone confirm whether there’s a possibility Deontay Wilder may have suffered a bump to the head of late? However outlandish that theory might initially seem, it is one we have to work on after the heavyweight addressed the circumstances of his loss to Tyson Fury in Las Vegas on Saturday night in an interview best euphemised as misjudged.According to Wilder, whose team threw in the towel in the seventh round, he has an entirely understandable excuse. “He didn’t hurt me at all,” this ran. “But the simple fact is...
First-round destruction of Dominic Breazeale was bookended by grim gutter talk and a sketchy future fight scheduleDeontay Wilder is a man of towering physical presence and contradictions. He is a man of God who expressed no regrets for welcoming the chance to “get a body” on his CV by killing Dominic Breazeale in the ring, yet apologised and wished the poor man and his family all the best after icing him inside a round in Brooklyn on Saturday night.To some this is just the gutter talk of the business. But it is tasteless and dangerous. And it most certainly has nothing to do with God. Related: Deontay Wilder defends title with first-round destruction of Dominic Breazeale Continue reading...
Heavyweight stars cash in with little risk but fight fans are missing out on the spectacle they wantRomeo and Juliet had an easier time getting together than Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have experienced lately. The courting of the voluble Gypsy King as the perfect ticket-selling foil for the sweet-talking triple-belt world heavyweight champion continues behind the scenes, while each prepares for marking-time bouts against fighters with clean but thin records.Yet again boxing fans will miss out on the spectacle they want, as Fury prepares to deliver the obscure young German, Tom Schwarz, his first defeat in 25 bouts when they meet in Las Vegas on 15 June. It will be the Mancunian’s debut for ESPN, after signing a staggering...
Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom has connections with the American streaming site DAZN and if the latter signs up Deontay Wilder then a heavyweight unifying bout could be on the tableEddie Hearn’s assertion that there is a “brilliant chance” Anthony Joshua will fight Deontay Wilder in November or December, unifying the heavyweight title for the first time since Lennox Lewis owned the division nearly two decades ago, is the best news boxing has had in a long while.The sport and the business need an undisputed heavyweight champion. And confused fans want someone they can identify with as the best fighter in the world, without argument, someone who can rule for more than a few fights – like it used to be in...
The Mancunian’s display against Deontay Wilder has complicated the immediate future of the heavyweight divisionWhen Tyson Fury got up from the canvas to finish like a wounded bull in the 12th round of his achingly unfair draw with Deontay Wilder in a faraway ring, he not only moved alongside his shocked opponent and Anthony Joshua as an unbeaten claimant to heavyweight supremacy. He single-handedly made the struggle with gloves a very human experience again. That makes him genuine box-office.Fury is no Muhammad Ali, but he revives memories of that era when charisma had a believable link to its classical roots: “a divinely conferred power or talent”, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it. Pointing to the skies, Fury said later...