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And major props to Fury for that. He formulated his own blueprint in the rematch, that are unique to his skills, size, reach and height. No other current top 10 HW can do what Fury did and how he did it. It’s a blueprint unique to him for Wilder. Then changed nothing of that blueprint for the 3rd fight.
This was the exact pattern he used. He started doing it in round 2 to adjust to Wilder.
He jabbed with what appeared to be a distraction jab, grabbed Wilder, leaned on him or headlocked him, then gets a right hand in. He then creates a little bit of space to rinse and repeat.
He put a pause on this tactic for the majority of round 5. It looked like he was hesitant to continue his jab, grab, lean, right coming off a round 4 where he was dropped twice. But in the last 50 seconds of round 5 he went back to his pattern, because he got his legs back.
Wilder became very fatigued early in the fight. This was due to the grappling and leaning of Fury. He had no answer for Fury’s wrestling in clinches. He was unable to thwart that. It is a very effective tactic for Fury, he did the same in the rematch. The first fight was the only one of the trilogy that Fury fought as clean as he can and didn’t really wrestle Wilder.
It would be very interesting to see Fury vs a top fighter who weighs 270+ to see if leaning and wrestling would be as effective as they were vs Wilder and Cunningham.
I also wonder if AJ fought Usyk like this, would he have won? Using your size to wrestle the smaller opponent.
it will also be interesting if Usyk beats AJ again, and then we get Fury vs Usyk, would Fury’s wrestling/leaning tactic work on the smaller Usyk? Or would Usyk’s footwork and ring IQ allow him to avoid clinches? Usyk actually has good footwork and boxing ability. Wilder never used his legs to move away from Fury, instead he leaned back, which is fundamentally wrong to elude punches like that. So he was easy to catch on the head/face and also since he doesn’t actually move back, he also made it easy for Fury to grab him and lean on him. I don’t think Usyk will be a sitting duck like Wilder. I don’t see him allowing Fury to wrestle him.
Highly skilled fighters can avoid clinching/wrestling. This is why Ricky Hatton had little to no success with his wrestling style vs Mayweather and Pacquiao. Size also played a part. Hatton was bigger than both in-ring, but not like Fury over Wilder big. Mayweather prevented Hatton from illegal holding by using his elbows and moving his feet quickly to create that space. That’s what you call a winner. Your opponent is using illegal holding and wrestling moves? Ok, fight him dirty too instead of complaining. Wilder could not do this.
This was the exact pattern he used. He started doing it in round 2 to adjust to Wilder.
He jabbed with what appeared to be a distraction jab, grabbed Wilder, leaned on him or headlocked him, then gets a right hand in. He then creates a little bit of space to rinse and repeat.
He put a pause on this tactic for the majority of round 5. It looked like he was hesitant to continue his jab, grab, lean, right coming off a round 4 where he was dropped twice. But in the last 50 seconds of round 5 he went back to his pattern, because he got his legs back.
Wilder became very fatigued early in the fight. This was due to the grappling and leaning of Fury. He had no answer for Fury’s wrestling in clinches. He was unable to thwart that. It is a very effective tactic for Fury, he did the same in the rematch. The first fight was the only one of the trilogy that Fury fought as clean as he can and didn’t really wrestle Wilder.
It would be very interesting to see Fury vs a top fighter who weighs 270+ to see if leaning and wrestling would be as effective as they were vs Wilder and Cunningham.
I also wonder if AJ fought Usyk like this, would he have won? Using your size to wrestle the smaller opponent.
it will also be interesting if Usyk beats AJ again, and then we get Fury vs Usyk, would Fury’s wrestling/leaning tactic work on the smaller Usyk? Or would Usyk’s footwork and ring IQ allow him to avoid clinches? Usyk actually has good footwork and boxing ability. Wilder never used his legs to move away from Fury, instead he leaned back, which is fundamentally wrong to elude punches like that. So he was easy to catch on the head/face and also since he doesn’t actually move back, he also made it easy for Fury to grab him and lean on him. I don’t think Usyk will be a sitting duck like Wilder. I don’t see him allowing Fury to wrestle him.
Highly skilled fighters can avoid clinching/wrestling. This is why Ricky Hatton had little to no success with his wrestling style vs Mayweather and Pacquiao. Size also played a part. Hatton was bigger than both in-ring, but not like Fury over Wilder big. Mayweather prevented Hatton from illegal holding by using his elbows and moving his feet quickly to create that space. That’s what you call a winner. Your opponent is using illegal holding and wrestling moves? Ok, fight him dirty too instead of complaining. Wilder could not do this.
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