Former two division champion Paulie Malignaggi is backing Tyson Fury to demolish Deontay Wilder in their third meeting, which is scheduled for July 24 in Las Vegas.

In their first meeting, in December 2018, the bout ended in a controversial twelve round split draw. Wilder dropped Fury twice. The second knockdown coming in the twelfth and final round - with Fury miraculously getting up in time to finish the fight.

The rematch, which took place in February 2020, saw Fury dominate the contest, score two knockdowns, and stop Wilder in the seventh to capture the WBC world heavyweight title.

Malignaggi expects the trilogy fight to mirror the outcome of the rematch.

“I think Wilder is going to get absolutely eviscerated in the fight. I think he’s going to get smoked to where he’s never the same again because he took a bad beating the second time around,” Malignaggi said to The Schmo.

“The first time around, I thought Fury outpointed him. The second time around, he took a bad beating, and that will usually change a lot of guys in general. If you’re going to ask for that type of beating again, I don’t see where he’s going. Here’s the thing. Wilder doesn’t know how to fight going backward. You’re not going to figure out how to fight going backward.

“You’re not going to mentally and psychologically and physically change yourself to the point where you’re going to figure out how to fight this guy going backward. Fury will back you up.”

Wilder strongly believes Fury "cheated" in the rematch - with claims that his gloves were modified.

“I think Wilder has the right approach. You’ve got to kind of have this in denial approach to it if you’re going to take this fight,” Malignaggi said.

“You can’t think about it negatively. You’ve got to convince yourself that it was everybody else’s fault and that Fury cheated. You’ve got to convince yourself about all this stuff that people aren’t going to take you seriously, but you’ve got to do it to put yourself in the best position mentally that you’re going to win the fight. I said that, and I don’t have a problem with that. If Wilder is going to be crazy enough to take this fight again, I think he has the right mental approach.”