By Norm Frauenheim –
Tyson Fury, street-corner philosopher and street-wise pugilist, has no illusions about what he does for a living.
“It’s not rocket science,’’ he said.
Sometimes, it’s not even Sweet Science.
That bring us to Fury’s third fight with Deontay Wilder on Oct. 9 for Fury’s heavyweight title at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
The long-awaited third chapter in the heavyweight trilogy is a lot of things. There’s rancor, trash-talk, some cheap drama, a little bit of mystery and an element of risk. The theatrics make it interesting.
But science, rockets or sweet, don’t figure to be a big part of the show. That might have to wait, perhaps for a Fury-Oleksandr Usyk fight in a division turned on to its top-heavy head last Saturday by Usyk’s skillful upset of Anthony Joshua in London.
Usyk took Joshua’s collection of belts, scoring a unanimous decision in a stunner that some argue places him at the top of the heavyweight ranks, ahead of even Fury, the World Boxing Council champion who also has a claim on the lineal title.
Fury, who knows a lot more about The Sweet Science than he does rockets, is not ready to step down or aside for anybody. No surprise there.
“Not a man born from his mother can beat me,’’ he said in a zoom call with reporters Wednesday.
No comment from Usyk’s mom, yet. But you get the idea.
Usyk, who waits on a contracted rematch with Joshua, is on Fury’s horizon and will stay there if there is no single misstep that will allow Wilder to land his right hand. The power in that Wilder right is scary.
“I only got one fight on my mind and that’s Deontay Wilder, the most dangerous heavyweight in the world right now,’’ Fury said.
The danger is there, all right. It nearly finished Fury in their first fight in December 2018, when Fury got up twice in a draw. Fury survived the power. Remembers it. Understands it, too.
He neutralized it in an embarrassing rout of Wilder in February 2020, forcing Wilder’s corner to throw in the towel after six-plus rounds. Then, Fury predicted what he would do and how he’d do it. As potent as that power is, it’s the only thing Wilder has had throughout his 44-fight career (42-1-1, 41 KOs).
Wilder has since changed his corner, firing Mark Breland and hiring Malik Scott. But a new corner, Fury says, won’t change Wilder’s fundamental character or add to his one-dimensional skillset.
“It’s been so long since that last fight that he could have got a college degree in that time,’’ Fury said in a crack that suggested he’s confident the same Wilder will be there at opening bell for an ESPN/Fox pay-per-view bout.
Wilder’s thorough whipping of Wilder in their rematch was a simple task of fundamental geometry. Fury went straight at him, smothering him with his 6-foot-9 frame and taking away the space he needs for leverage on that feared right hand.
The simple move stripped Wilder of his only weapon. More than that, it stripped him of his identity. That wasn’t science. It was the art of psychology, one that Fury seems to be practicing during the days before opening bell next week.
Wilder has never acknowledged that he lost the rematch. He blamed Breland. He blamed a costume that he says weakened him in the walk to the ring. He suggested that Fury’s gloves were loaded. He forgot to mention the grassy knoll. Lots of conspiracies, but no accountability.
“He hasn’t accepted defeat,’’ Fury said. “Therefore, he can’t overcome it.’’
Sometimes, common sense is the best kind of science.
