Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder II, this Saturday night in Las Vegas, is set to be one of the biggest boxing matches in recent history.
The implications from the result of this fight are nothing short of massive.
In theory, the winner will be in line for a unification fight with Anthony Joshua, which could break all sorts of money-making records.
I am fascinated by the mindset that Fury and Wilder will take into this fight compared to the first fight.
I re-watched the first fight last week just to remind myself of the occasion and how both fighters approached it.
We must not forget what an enormous leap it was for Fury to take on Wilder the first time, in the US, with only two warm-up fights and over two-and-a-half years out the ring. It’s staggering really.
Despite being the lineal heavyweight champion of the world, no one knew what to expect of Tyson in that fight, least of all Wilder.
In reality, the vast majority of people had their money on Wilder to walk through Fury and land a massive right-hand on him.
As I re-watched the first six rounds of the first fight there is no question that Wilder goes through a period when he suddenly realises that his Plan A of landing that ‘Goodnight Charlie’ right hand is not working.
Fury moved too well and smothered the range at which Wilder would approach with that right hand.
After that, it seemed like Wilder had no other tactic and ultimately just persisted while Fury outboxed him.
Fury no longer has that element of the unknown with Wilder and he will be less of an underdog, which makes for an interesting change in dynamic.
Will Fury now feel the pressure of having to box in a more dominant fashion? Maybe leading to being more open to a big right hand?
Will Wilder have been able to develop his tactics beyond just waiting to land that big right hand that Fury might continually smother?
The stakes couldn’t be bigger in this fight so the way the fighters approach these questions is huge.
For what it is worth, I think Fury is a natural-born fighter who now knows exactly who he is as a person and a boxer.
He’s unorthodox in every way but he just wants to fight, being favourite or underdog makes no difference to him.
I think his mindset will not be any different in this fight.
I think Wilder will have tried to develop his style, but it will be minimal. This is a guy with a 98% knock out ratio, under pressure he’ll stick with what he knows.
So, my prediction - a better Fury will outbox a slightly better Wilder and win on points to set up the biggest boxing match in British history against Anthony Joshua.
