Deontay Wilder’s trainer sent a shot across the bow in a recent interview with Sky Sports.
“Deontay will knock Fury out inside of five rounds,” said trainer Malik Scott.
The comment work Boxing Twitter back up and put them right back into discussing the October 9th third installment of Wilder-Fury.
Boxing dominated sports conversation with Yordenis Ugas’ upset of Manny Pacquiao. Wilder-Fury III could continue that momentum in a year where boxing has seen multiple postponements of matches due to various reasons.
The question at hand is, how would Wilder be able to knockout Fury within five rounds? On the surface, it seems like boxing-hype talk. Say outlandish things to get the fight attention up until fight night but Scott’s prediction isn’t unfathomable.
If Wilder is willing to change, I’m not saying he’ll get a knockout within five rounds but he could end Fury’s run at being undefeated.
If Wilder wants to win, nevertheless, get a knockout it starts with his jab. Early on in the fight, he’ll need to use to jab to set up getting inside. Once inside, Wilder will need to go to Fury’s body as often as possible. In turn, by being inside and keeping active, Wilder smothers Fury’s offense which tends to come in spurts. One of Wilder’s mistakes in the past in using the jab simply to set up the right hand. But, if he gets to Fury’s body and slows his movement, the right hand will be there in a more advantageous situation.
In both fights, Wilder has let Fury dictate what type of fight it would be. There’s being patient and then there’s giving up ring generalship to your opponent. Wilder did the latter in both fights. He will have to dictate the pace and the tenor of the fight from round one on. That doesn’t mean he needs to look for a knockout in round one. What is means is he needs to make Fury fight on his turn from the time the opening bell rings.
I agree with Scott when he says that Wilder’s IQ shouldn’t be “underestimated”. Fury was the first fighter to make Wilder pay for being one-dimensional. In past fights, Wilder was able to mail away early rounds knowing he had the fight-changing punch and it would eventually land. That’s what the second fight was so one-sided. By getting the late knockdown of Fury in the first fight and then getting the draw, Wilder was misled into believing that he could continue to fight that way. After the second fight, there should be no such belief.
Wilder has a chance to prove that he isn’t a one-dimensional fighter. That he can go in the ring and dictate the terms from beginning to end against a world class champion. Can he do it in five rounds? That’s the question that we’re all asking.
Photo Credit: Ryan Hafey / Premier Boxing Champions
