Tyson Fury knocked out Deontay Wilder in the 11th round of their third encounter, but short-term memory loss meant he couldn't remember doing so.
Fury and Wilder's trilogy bout in October 2021 was one of the greatest heavyweight title fights in recent history, with the Brit getting his hand raised after a contest that contained five knockdowns. Wilder took a year away from the ring after being brutally knocked out by Fury, his second stoppage loss to 'The Gypsy King' having also been knocked out in their 2020 rematch after fighting to a controversial draw in 2018.
Reflecting on the fight in his new book ' Gloves Off', Fury admitted that he couldn't remember the round he knocked out Wilder in due to the damage he absorbed in the fight. He wrote: "At the end of the fight, I struggled to piece together the big events. That was partly down to the chaos on the canvas afterwards, but something felt off.
"Everything was foggy, I couldn’t remember exactly what had happened and for a little while I didn’t know what was going on. The basics were there, but parts of the match seemed out of reach. There were blanks, so I kept asking my brother, Shane, a load of questions. 'How many times did I put him down? How many times did he knock me over? What round did the fight finish in?'"
Fury went on to explain that he felt a lump forming on the back of head after the fight, caused by one of the punches that Wilder had landed. The Brit's "heart sank" in fear of what the lump could be, revealing his first port of call after the win was for the lump to be looked over by a ringside doctor.
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The battle scars of a hard-fought win such as his third encounter with Wilder made Fury consider his boxing future. He stated: "While getting my face punched in for a living has put millions of pounds in the bank, a fighter needs to know when their time is up and mine is near. Walking away from boxing may be the hardest thing I ever do. All I know is that I don’t want to overstay my welcome, ruin my legacy, or die from a big right to the side of the head."
A fourth fight between Wilder and Fury could be on the cards as the WBC have ordered 'The Bronze Bomber' to fight Andy Ruiz Jr next. The clash will produce the next mandatory challenger for Fury's WBC title, with Wilder insisting that he wants to win the belt back before retiring from boxing.
