By Keith Idec
His history suggests Tyson Fury should try to out-box Deontay Wilder if they fight in November.
That seems like the smartest strategy Fury could employ to beat the unorthodox, hard-hitting WBC heavyweight champion. That approach worked well for Fury in his upset of Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015.
The 6-feet-9 Fury’s tactical approach didn’t make for an exciting encounter with Klitschko, but it earned him a unanimous-decision victory and the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles.
Maybe Fury simply is in full promotional mode, but he told BoxingScene.com this week that won’t settle for boxing the undefeated Wilder, who has knocked out 39 of his 40 professional opponents. Fury claimed he’ll be aggressive against Wilder and will go for the knockout of a champion who was hurt badly by Luis Ortiz in the seventh round of his last fight.
“Knock [him] out,” Fury said when asked how he’ll approach Wilder. “Slug it out and knock [him] out. People are sick of seeing great boxing matches in the heavyweight division. They don’t want a chess match. The want to see blood, snot and guts all over the ring. They wanna see knockouts, entertainment. They wanna see value for money. They wanna see pay-per-view fights. That’s what you pay for and that’s what they’re gonna get.”
The 30-year-old Fury (26-0, 19 KOs), of Manchester, England, and the 32-year-old Wilder, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, are expected to square off in a Showtime Pay-Per-View main event if Fury defeats Francesco Pianeta on Saturday night in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Wilder-Fury fight likely would take place November 10 or November 17 at an undetermined Las Vegas venue.
Showtime also will stream Fury’s fight against Italy’s Pianeta (35-4-1, 21 KOs) on its YouTube channel Saturday, starting at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT. After their scheduled 10-rounder, Showtime will stream the main event from Windsor Park, a 12-rounder between Belfast’s Carl Frampton (25-1, 14 KOs) and Australia’s Luke Jackson (16-0, 7 KOs) for the WBO’s interim featherweight title.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
