Anthony Joshua has picked Tyson Fury to become the WBC heavyweight world champion and laid out exactly why the Gypsy King will beat Deontay Wilder on February 22nd.
Fury came so close to winning the title from Wilder when they met in December 2018 and would have won had he avoided the 12th round knockdown that somehow didn’t end the fight, instead the two men had to settle for a draw.
They will finally meet for the second time next month and Joshua, the man who holds the other three titles, is backing his fellow Brit. Speaking to Sky Sports AJ explained why saying, “I believe that Fury will win because, Wilder has shown you can’t blink for a second with him because it just takes one punch, against Ortiz. But it shows that a good boxer, who’s young and fresh and can follow out a game plan can be victorious seven to ‘x’ amount of rounds.
“Boxing is about hitting and not getting hit and Ortiz got hit with a big punch but Fury’s quite evasive, Fury’s a lot bigger, Fury boxes back and flicks out his jab. So he is quite difficult to hit. Fury fought Wilder the first time after a long lay off. I think Fury’s taken some relatively soft touch fights, got his confidence back and going into the new year as a new man, new team, new mindset. He’s over his mental health issues. So he must feel something in him that is new and he wants to be the new heavyweight champion of the world. So I think Fury has a good chance to beat Wilder providing he follows his game plan through the 12 rounds.”
The 2012 Olympic champion referenced Wilder’s most recent world title defence, which was also a rematch, against Luis Ortiz.
Back in November the Cuban worried his American counterpart for much of the first seven rounds and would have been 7-0 or 6-1 up on many people’s cards going into the last few moments of the seventh.
However the Bronze Bomber proved that he requires just one opening as he knocked out his opponent with a brilliant shot just nine seconds from the end of the round.
There is hope that the winner of the February 22nd fight will take on AJ next, with reports that the 30-year-old has been offered a huge deal to fight Fury or Wilder in Saudi Arabia.
The problem could be the reported rematch clause in the contract for the two other competitors with talk that there will be a third fight in the summer, unless Wilder wins without controversy.
Who do you think will win Wilder vs Fury II?