Fury vs. Wilder III: The fight we all want – and need – to see

By Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Columnist

British royalty, eternally filled with acrimony and intrigue, never ceases to entertain, and these headline-filled present times are no exception. If Tyson Fury has his way, a different type of U.K. monarch will create some rumblings in America this weekend, showing it’s not just Prince Harry who’s capable of shaking things up.

After refusing to take his Las Vegas news conference seat as requested by Kate Abdo earlier this week, then unleashing a verbal undressing toward his Saturday trilogy opponent Deontay Wilder, the World Boxing Council heavyweight champion known as "Gypsy King" made his boldest pronouncement yet.

"I’m already the king of boxing," Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) boasted. "Heavyweight champion of the world. Lineal (champion) from the WBC. Undefeated. You can’t beat that."

For the moment, he’s right.

But there’s still a significant bit of unfinished business to attend to. That would be the repeat task of finishing an inspired and angered rival who’s bent on retaliation.

"I want it back in blood," Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) told Fury on Wednesday. "You have no power. I am a knockout artist. I defended my title 10 times. How many times did you defend yours? I’m a real champion."

Wilder reigned as unbeaten heavyweight boss for more than five years before succumbing to Fury by seventh-round technical knockout on the eve of the COVID-19 outbreak in February 2020.

It was a one-sided rout, with Fury relentlessly charging forward, distributing hammering blows to the outgoing champion’s body and head, dropping Wilder twice before assistant cornerman Mark Breland mercifully spared his fighter from permanent damage by throwing in the towel.

Wilder responded sourly. He blamed Breland, ultimately firing him. He blamed his walk-in costume, contending in post-fight interviews that the weight of the garb tired his legs.

And, for good measure, he alleged the Nevada Athletic Commission neglected to notice that Fury had improperly tampered with his gloves – an explosive charge that remains unproven.

The pair had contractually agreed to a third fight before fighting for the second time, but the trilogy meeting was delayed throughout last year by the pandemic. Fury’s side thought time for Chapter 3 had expired and moved to stage a bout for the undisputed title against Fury’s countryman, then-three-belt champion Anthony Joshua.

But an arbitrator ruled in Wilder’s favor that Fury-Wilder III needed to take place first, and then Joshua was upset by former cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine.

That makes Saturday’s showdown – available on FOX pay-per-view (Order the fight here!) – a matchup that will dictate who holds the keys to the entire division. Fury is the favorite, at -300 with FOX Bet.

Fury embraces this moment he’s reached, speaking of the thrill he feels in his newly elevated position as the world’s most compelling fighter. It’s why he wouldn’t sit down at the news conference. Towering at 6-foot-9, he had everyone, including Wilder, looking up to him, and scoffed at Wilder’s suggestion that the standing-up tactic revealed "nervous energy."

"Wilder said I only won the second fight because I cheated, but then he goes and changes his whole team and does all this extra training – trains as hard as he ever has," Fury said. "If I only won by cheating, what’s the point of doing all this extra work?

"He says he wants to do all these malice things to me – hurt me, do all this with his anger and aggression. For those who hold the hot coal, with the intention of throwing it at somebody … guess what? They’re the ones who are going to get burned. I don’t want to hurt Deontay Wilder. I just want to beat him in a fight."

Fury’s entertainment value and ring brilliance are precisely what boxing needs, restoring a little established order following a nearly year-long stretch of pay-per-view sideshows featuring YouTube brothers Logan and Jake Paul, retired Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield and a string of COVID-19 cancellations. The Pauls bring entertainment value and fresh eyeballs to the fight game, but that doesn’t mean anything if there aren’t also box office title bouts for the new fans to get sucked into.

"The heavyweight champion has long been the most important man in all sports in the world – from Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson," WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said. "Fury has a tremendous personality. Wherever he goes, he’s well known. He has such charisma. He’s outspoken, (but) he relates to the people."

Back in 2015, it was Fury who ended longtime champion Wladimir Klitschko’s reign that went mostly unnoticed in the U.S. Immediately after that triumph, Fury suffered from mental illness marked by suicidal thoughts and alcohol, drug and food abuse, ultimately surrendering his three belts before a recovery that took him to a December 2018 date against Wilder.

Despite lingering effects, he outboxed Wilder for most of the night, shrugged off one knockdown from the heavy-hitting right-hander and then remarkably arose from a vicious 12th-round knockdown to ultimately fight to a draw.

Fury repeated his confidence this time after his positive COVID test prompted a postponement of the original Wilder-Fury III date of July 24. He then returned home to England and weathered the stress of his daughter’s frightening post-birth illness. He says he’s ready.

"It hasn’t had any effect on me at all," Fury added. "I’ve been training my whole life. I don’t need any more time to go into a fight at any given moment. If I can’t do that, even fat on my (butt) coming off a sofa, I’d be very disappointed."

Fury vows Saturday night will reveal the best version of himself, a man seizing his moment, poised to carry an entire sport with him.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider Newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.