According to trainer Ben Davison, heavyweight Tyson Fury repeatedly told him that he would go for a knockout victory in the rematch with Deontay Wilder.
In the first bout, in December 2018, Fury and Wilder fought to a controversial twelve round split draw. Fury survived two big knockdowns in the bout.
For the February rematch, Fury parted ways with Davison and hired veteran coach SugarHill Steward.
And Fury stayed true to his promise for the second fight, believing that he mentally broke Wilder after surviving his biggest shots.
He came forward, dropping Wilder two times, and secured a seventh round stoppage to capture the WBC world title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
A trilogy fight is now in play, after Wilder exercised an immediate rematch clause. The promoters are targeting a date in October.
“Tyson said all the time, since that 12th round straight after the fight and all the next training camps, every time I spoke to him Tyson was adamant that was the way he wanted to go about the [second] fight. And he kept saying to me, ‘I know I took something away from him. I know I took something away from him.’ And he proved to be right. You know, he did take something away from Wilder," Davison told IFL TV.
"Sometimes as the fighter in there, you can feel something that the trainer can’t feel effectively, while being in there. And I just feel that he felt that he took something away from Wilder. And it looked that way going into the second fight.
"I see Tyson doing another number on him – whether he does it by out-boxing him early and then setting about later on, after a few rounds, or whether he goes straight back out there and sticks it straight back on Wilder again. You know, we’ll be waiting to see.”