On Saturday night, the boxing world will have its focus on MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, as Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder and Tyson “Gypsy King” Fury will square off for the heavyweight championship in WBC, The Ring and the lineal heavyweight championship. Wilder holds the WBC belt, while Fury holds the lineal belt and had at one time held the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring titles. This is a rematch of a fight that ended up in a split draw back on December 1, 2018. Since then, Wilder and Fury have each fought twice. Wilder has won both of his fights via knockout, while Fury has won via TKO and unanimous decision. Take a look at our thoughts on this fight as you plan your Boxing betting for the coming week.
Wilder vs Fury 2 Fight Preview & Betting Odds
Deontay Wilder (42-0-1) vs Tyson Fury (29-0-1) brings several questions to mind. First, has either fighter gotten better? Wilder took apart Dominic Breazeale and Luis Ortiz in his two fights since he met Fury the first time, using his trademark right hand, bring bomb after bomb until his opponent is out cold. He claims that he had a fractured hand in one of the fights, but you certainly could not see it given the punishment he was delivering.
Fury delivered an impressive TKO win over Tom Schwarz, bringing a TKO in the second round. However, he did not expect to have to battle Otto Wallin for all twelve rounds and ending up bloodied. He has had more time to refine his approach than he did when he fought Wilder the first time. Questions have surrounded his preparation this time, as he seems to have a lot of distractions going on, such as an ITV series about his life, a set of Christmas singles paired with Robbie Williams and WWE dalliances. Is he ready?
What about Fury’s eye? It has been five months since he fought Wallin and took a deep cut that required 47 stitches. The blood in his right eye limited his vision, and it is arguable that five months is not enough time to heal completely. It is possible that the large number of stitches means that the skin is stronger and that microplastic surgery was part of the process, but that remains an unknown. If Wilder can cut him early and limit his vision, he has the power and speed to give Fury some real trouble. This could lead to Wilder acting more aggressively when they are in the clinch.
Will Fury go after the KO aggressively? Fury changed his trainer, going back to Javan “SugarHill” Steward instead of staying with Ben Davison. The emphasis for Steward is power punching, and Fury has said that he wants to sit down on his punches, adding strength so that he can add punishment to his game. Given that Fury did not agree with the split draw, it makes sense that he would like to take the outcome into his own hands and deliver the win with Wilder getting counted out on the mat. However, if adding power has meant adding weight, that could take its toll on Fury’s ability to last 12 rounds.
Is Wilder’s jab better? Wilder wants to bring that right hand as quickly and as often as possible, but that means that he will need that left jab to open up Fury’s defense. Fury uses an outstretched left arm as part of his defense and holds his chin tight against his shoulder, and he can roll quickly, which means that Wilder will have to open himself up a bit each time he tries to land that right. If Wilder has added some versatility to that jab, and if he can use it to do damage to Fury’s body, then Fury won’t be able to hold that left arm out continuously. Changing up the jab does make Wilder slightly more vulnerable on defense, but Wilder will need to shake things up to get points on Fury — and to open up Fury’s defenses for a possible KO.
