by David P. Greisman
Deontay Wilder wasn’t surprised at Tyson Fury’s antics following Wilder’s knockout win of Artur Szpilka this past Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Fury got into the ring, went nose-to-nose with Wilder, exchanged words and made a scene — a scene that effectively drives even more excitement for a potential bout down the line between lineal heavyweight champion Fury and titleholder Wilder.
“I knew he was going to be at the fight, not only him but a lot of the other heavyweights in the division,” Wilder said at the post-fight press conference. “The heavyweight division is getting exciting again, man. And now that these belts are changing hands, everybody feel like they got this opportunity and they’re the next champion.
“Fury’s just being Fury. He’s an unpredictable guy. He like to promote. Fury knows we been trying to fight him for a while. His team knows that. He knows that. He’s just promoting. We been doing it for four years media, whether through social media, I’ve been over to the U.K. and got into the ring, all that stuff. I feel like it’s time to shut up and put up. It’s time to get it on.”
Of course, there’s the matter first of Fury having a contractually mandated rematch with Wladimir Klitschko, who he topped to become champion, and Wilder potentially facing his mandatory challenger, Alexander Povetkin. But if they get through those bouts, Wilder sees a big match between two big men.
“It will be the biggest heavyweight fight in a long time — and I would go to the U.K. for that one,” Wilder said. “I got a lot of fans over there. Like I said, we’ve been promoting this thing for four years. I can say a lot of thing about Fury but I’m not going to spoil it. I’m waiting for the big moment. This is going to be a fight that is just as big as the hype. I can’t wait. In 2016 I’m not playing around with nobody — no matter how they want to act like they big and bad and talk stuff like this.
“It’s one thing to talk. It’s another thing when you get up in that ring. With Fury I’m not going to have no remorse. I’m not going to have no sympathy for him. I’m going to want to really, really, really hurt him.”
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
