'Bizarre stuff': Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder in 'horrible' face-off
Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder entered into a 'bizarre' face-off in their highly-controversial and anticipated heavyweight trilogy bout.
The build-up before their trilogy bout - which Fury leads after a TKO victory last year - has involved plenty of bad blood.
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Fury had originally set up a fight with Anthony Joshua, before Wilder won his arbitration case and triggered a rematch after his loss.
This resulted in an angry Fury hitting out at Wilder for not taking step-aside money.
But the pair finally came face-to-face in a press conference after more than a year.
And it didn't produce the fireworks many expected.
Wilder has been talking about Fury and has made up many theories to why he didn't perform in their second bout.
But after more than a year of talk, Wilder sat throughout the presser with headphones on and remained largely silent.
Fury, known for his boisterous demeanour, did all the talking as he entered into a war-of-words with Wilder's new trainer Malik Scott.
The 'Gypsy King' also predicted an even easier victory this time around.
Fury and Wilder face-off lasts five minutes
But the most 'bizarre' part of the press conference was the face-off.
A shirtless Fury stood across from a silent Wilder for five-minutes as the pair locked eyes.
But fans were not pleased after expecting fireworks after all the trash talk.
Longest faceoff ever? I think so. pic.twitter.com/4zbYahJQy1
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 15, 2021
My two cents: Wilder doesn’t want to face the music after making every excuse in the book and tossing accusations at Fury https://t.co/yIfBtdPsui
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) June 15, 2021
Bizarre stuff from Deontay Wilder. You have an obligation to promote the fight. All these wild accusations and now he won’t answer questions? He’s sitting up there with headphones on silently. Fury says Wilder doesn’t seem into the fight “mentally or emotionally.” #FuryWilder3
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) June 15, 2021
Well. That is a long, silent, and awkward staredown. How are you guys feeling about Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder 3? #FuryWilder3 pic.twitter.com/I8EbhFLyd5
— runningmma (@runningmma) June 16, 2021
Can I get my time back for this horrible press conference. #boxing #FuryWilder3 pic.twitter.com/C109lAUB2F
— Andre DeCoteau (@AndreDecoteau) June 15, 2021
Fury fired up during the press conference and predicted how the fight would go.
He claimed it would be an easier victory this time around considering he has been training for 18 months.
“Deontay Wilder’s a one-trick pony, he’s got one-punch power, we all know that, great. But what I’m going to do to Deontay Wilder this time is I’m gonna run him over as if I’m an 18-wheeler and he’s a human being and I guarantee he does not go past where he did before,” Fury said.
“Because before I only had five or six weeks of practising what I was gonna do to him, this time I’ve had 18 months of practising what I’m gonna do to him so I anticipate it’s gonna be like an 18-wheeler running over somebody and that’s what you’re gonna see.
“I’m building my weight up. I’m trying to get up to 300 pounds (136kg) for this fight because I’m looking for a big knockout straight away. I don’t believe he’s mentally, physically, or emotionally involved in his fight. I think he’s doing it for the wrong reasons. When people do things for the wrong reasons they always wind up getting hurt.
“So we’ll see on fight night if I’m a man to my word and if I can run him over quicker than round seven and I think I do, for sure.”
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