Is it possible to beat a sporting opponent after a previous meeting in which they absolutely dominated you to the point of humiliation?
That is the multi-million-dollar question that boxing fans will be pondering as we look forward to Fury v Wilder 3 this weekend. Wilder was, of course, brutally dominated by Fury in the second fight and it is testament to the man’s determination that he wants to have another go at this.
The short answer to that question is yes. We only have to look to recent fight game history to find an example to back this up.
When Nate Diaz stepped in on short notice to take on Conor ‘The Notorious’ McGregor in their first fight in 2016, many presumed that McGregor would still dominate. Actually, the opposite happened.
Diaz badly exposed the weaknesses behind McGregor’s bravado and humiliated him with a dominant victory. Diaz was clearly too big and durable for McGregor and the vail of invincibility that ‘The Notorious’ wore proudly was ripped away.
When McGregor requested a rematch immediately many thought it was just his ego talking and he would be exposed again in a weight category that he shouldn’t go anywhere near to.
However, he came back for the second fight and won it fairly on a points decision. It was a phenomenal performance.
However, and it is a big ‘however’, the reason McGregor was able to do this was because he took the first fight firmly on the chin.
He accepted what he did wrong and, more importantly, accepted what he needed to do to reinvent himself to beat a man who wouldn’t go to sleep after one of his punches – the Wilder parallels are clear. He parked his ego, got fitter and radically changed his tactical approach to the second fight.
From the first minute of the second fight, everyone could see that this was a different contest. This question will hang over Deontay Wilder. What has he done to radically change his approach against Tyson Fury?
If not a lot, then he will be dominated again. We will have to see something in the first couple of rounds of the fight that makes us see that this truly is a different Wilder in the ring.
I have seen nothing in Fury’s comments and preparation that makes me think he is taking this third fight lightly. He is going to come into the fight as big as ever and the Anthony Joshua loss will only heighten his senses to the danger that Wilder provides.
So, the onus will be on Wilder to show something different. If that is not there, then it will show that Wilder couldn’t truly accept the previous loss and what he needed to do to come back from it, as McGregor did back in 2016.
What do they say about the definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Over to you, Deontay Wilder.
