"The last six months I've been home for two weeks when my daughter was born and she was fighting for her life. It wasn't the best preparation, but I never make excuses," admitted Tyson Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) after his early win over Deontay Wilder last weekend.
"Now I'm definitely going to spend time with my family before I make my next moves. Wilder has hurt me a few times in this trilogy and I really had to work hard for this win. He's a tough guy and one of the greatest punchers in history. I still consider him, despite those three losses to me, to be number two in the current heavyweight division," the "Gypsy King" said.
Deontay Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) was taken to the hospital for evaluation after the fight, but was released hours later and was able to go home.
"Consulting with doctors, everything is fine. Life goes on. I wish Deontay would shut down for a while and take a break from boxing. Because he's worked really hard since the end of last year's fight. Now he deserves a nice and longer rest. We'll spend the next few days together," said Malik Scott, the new coach of the former WBC champion, who also complained a bit about referee Russell Moore's work. According to Scott, the ref was too passive and allowed Fury to hang on to his charge.
"We were able to put some new things into practice in the first rounds, but I have to admit Fury is a great boxer. Now he'll probably have to fight Alexander Usyk and it'll be a good fight. He'll be hanging on to him too, and how do you think that will end? Style makes fights, and I'm sure Wilder would handle Usyk a lot better than Joshua. Fury will go at Usyk, attack him, wear him down and break him down. He makes great use of his kilos and weakens his opponent with each successive round. Unfortunately, in the fight with us he was additionally helped by a bit passive ref. We lost, but it was a very good experience for the future," Scott said.
Theoretically, if Dillian Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) beats Otto Wallin (22-1, 14 KOs) later this month and retains his WBC mandatory challenger status for Fury, he could finally get his title shot with the Roma King. That being said, Fury himself has repeatedly proven that he listens to no one and goes his own way. Meanwhile, Alexander Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) is looking forward to a rematch with Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) at the turn of March and April.
