By Keith Idec
As their press conference wound down Monday, Deontay Wilder tried to get under Tyson Fury’s skin by mentioning his split with Peter Fury, his uncle and former trainer.
Peter Fury trained Tyson Fury for his career-changing upset of longtime heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015. Tyson Fury began working with Ben Davison once he launched his comeback earlier this year, though, and Davison has guided Fury to victories over Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pianeta since June 9.
“You better go ring up Peter,” Wilder yelled at Tyson Fury at BT Sport’s headquarters. “You’re gonna need him. You’re gonna need him. If you’re thinking about the win over Klitschko and comparing it to me, you better go get Peter Fury. You better go get Peter! If that was your best fight, fighting Klitschko … and that was the trainer that trained you for that, you better go get him.”
The mere mention of Klitschko set off Tyson Fury as they promoted their December 1 fight for Wilder’s WBC heavyweight title at Staples Center in Los Angeles (Showtime Pay-Per-View).
“You ain’t half the man Klitschko is,” the lineal heavyweight champion screamed back at Wilder. “You’re a dosser. Klitschko was a world champion, with 25 defenses. You’ve had seven handpicked bums. You can’t do it, Rock! They were handpicked bums.”
The 6-feet-9 Fury out-boxed a lackluster Klitschko in their 12-round fight nearly three years ago. Klitschko was a 4-1 favorite entering their title bout, but Fury overcame a point deduction in the 11th round for hitting the huge Ukrainian behind his head and won their fight on all three scorecards (116-111, 115-112, 115-112).
Fury’s victory halted Klitschko’s streak of consecutive defenses of the IBF heavyweight title at 18.
The polarizing Fury never gave Klitschko the immediate rematch he was owed because Fury relinquished his titles to seek treatment for alcoholism, drug addiction and depression. He resumed his career following a 2½-year layoff June 9, when he stopped a disinterested Seferi (23-2, 21 KOs) following four farcical rounds in Manchester, England.
The former IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO champion returned to the ring two months later. He easily out-boxed Italy’s Francesco Pianeta (35-5-1, 21 KOs) in the second bout of his comeback, a 10-rounder he won by unanimous decision August 18 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.