Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury

Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury

Date	December 1, 2018
Venue	Staples Center, Los Angeles, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	WBC heavyweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Deontay Wilder Tyson Fury Nickname The Bronze Bomber Gypsy King Hometown Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S. Manchester, England, U.K. Pre-fight record 40–0 (39 KO) 27–0 (19 KO) Height 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 6 ft 8+3⁄4 in (2.05 m) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition WBC heavyweight champion Lineal heavyweight champion

Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury is an upcoming professional boxing fight which will take place on December 1, 2018, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Undefeated defending WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder will face undefeated challenger and former WBA (Super), WBO, IBF, IBO, The Ring, and lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

Fight card

Weight Class		vs.		Method	Round	Time	Notes
Heavyweight	Deontay Wilder (c)	vs.	Tyson Fury (c)	N/A	/12		Note 1
Light middleweight	Jarrett Hurd (c)	vs.	Jason Welborn	N/A	/12		Note 2
Strawweight	Mark Anthony Barriga	vs.	Carlos Licona	N/A	/12		Note 3
Heavyweight	Luis Ortiz	vs.	Travis Kauffman	N/A	/10
Heavyweight	Joe Joyce	vs.	Joe Hanks	N/A	/10
Super middleweight	Alfredo Angulo	vs.	Eduardo Flores	N/A	/10
Welterweight	Robert Guerrero	vs.	Adam Mate	N/A	/10
Heavyweight	Chris Arreola	vs.	Maurenzo Smith	N/A	/10

^Note 1 For WBC heavyweight title.
^Note 2 For IBF, WBA (Super) and IBO light middleweight titles.
^Note 3 For vacant IBF mini flyweight title.

Background

The potential match up between Wilder and Fury had been talked about and promoted for several years prior to the fight, including by the two fighters themselves both in internet video interviews on YouTube and on social media platforms such as Twitter. The pair's first encounter had taken place off camera at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield in April 2013, where Wilder knocked out Audley Harrison on the undercard of Amir Khan vs. Julio Diaz, with both Wilder and Fury promising each other a fight in the future. Wilder became the first American heavyweight world champion in nearly a decade in January 2015, after defeating Bermane Stiverne via unanimous decision in Las Vegas to pick up the WBC title, the only world heavyweight title at the time that was not held by the reigning champion Wladimir Klitschko. Fury then also became champion in his first world title attempt by defeating Klitschko for the remaining titles in Dusseldorf, Germany later that year in November 2015, ending Klitschko's decade long reign with a unanimous decision victory.

Wilder then made the third defence of his title in January 2016 against Artur Szpilka at the Barclays Center in New York, a fight in which Fury was in attendance. At the end of the fight after Wilder had knocked out Szpilka in devastating fashion, in an attempt to build a future fight Fury jumped into the ring and there was a face to face confrontation between the two men, this time in front of the onlooking crowd and a live television audience. Fury grabbed the microphone before telling Wilder, "There's only one Tyson Fury, what you got to say about that, Deontay?", with Wilder replying "we all know, Fury, this is just an act, I ain't scared of nobody and I'll come to your backyard for that fight, baby!" Fury continued the verbal tirade by shouting, "any time any place anywhere, when you're ready, I'll fight you in your back garden like I done Klitschko I'll beat you, you bum! You're a bum!" With several people now separating the pair, Fury took off his jacket and threw it to the ground whilst pacing up and down talking to Wilder across the ring, and Wilder took the microphone again to tell Fury, "I don't play this, you can run around like you're a preacher and all that but I promise you when you step in this ring I will baptise you!"

After their heated discussion in New York, a fight between the two had seemed inevitable in the near future but with Wilder obliged to face mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin next and Fury bound by a contractual rematch clause with Klitschko it appeared the fight would have to wait, at least until the end of the year. However, the coming months saw Fury postpone the Klitschko rematch twice, firstly due to an ankle injury in June which saw the rematch put back from 9 July to 29 October before Fury cancelled a second time in September after being declared medically unfit following a positive test for cocaine. This led to Fury vacating his remaining titles in October 2016 and further problems with depression, alcohol and excessive weight gain followed with Fury announcing his retirement from the sport only to change his mind on more than one occasion. Fury eventually regained his boxing license and was cleared to fight again in December 2017 and began training for his comeback around the same time.

Meanwhile, Wilder had now made six successful defences of his crown including his first-round knockout in a rematch with Stiverne, while the seventh defence was to be a career best win over unbeaten top contender Luis Ortiz in March 2018 via a tenth round knockout. Post fight, on both occasions Wilder called out Anthony Joshua, who had since become champion by collecting the IBF and WBA titles that had been vacated by Fury in fights against Charles Martin and Klitschko, with Wilder stating his desire to unify the titles saying, "The world wants Wilder and Joshua, I want Joshua! Joshua, come and see me baby, no more hiding, no more ducking, no more dodging, no more excuses, let's make the fight happen and let's see who's the best, I know I'm the best, are you up for the test?" Later that month, Joshua defeated previously unbeaten Joseph Parker via unanimous decision in a unification bout which saw him add the WBO title to his name. However, after several months of ultimately fruitless negotiations with Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn, Wilder and manager Shelly Finkel were left to look elsewhere with Joshua instead opting to make a defence against Povetkin which would take place on 22 September, whilst Fury made his return to action on 9 June after a two and a half year hiatus since his win over Klitschko, stopping Sefer Seferi in four rounds.

On 27 June 2018, Fury gave Wilder a message in an Instagram video saying, "I'll apologise on behalf of Eddie Hearn and Anthony Joshua because they're from the same country as I am, they won't fight you and they've took three months stringing you and the fans along with no intention of fighting, but I'll fight you in three seconds. Get your boss to send me the contract and I'll show you how long it takes to sign it! If you wanna fight the best this country has ever had knock on my door and see if the Gypsy King doesn't answer! The ball is in your court." Around this time, Fury and Wilder personally discussed a potential fight privately, and their two teams began talks for a fight to take place before the end of the year.

Build up

By August 2018, both Wilder and Fury had agreed to a fight and, with Fury scheduled for the second fight of his comeback against former world title challenger Francesco Pianeta on 18 August on the undercard of Carl Frampton vs. Luke Jackson at Windsor Park in Belfast, Wilder was to be ringside to begin the promotion of the fight with Fury. After a comfortable points victory over Pianeta in front of the onlooking Wilder, there was a second in-ring confrontation between the two with Wilder saying, "We're ready now, this fight will happen, it's on baby, this is what we've been waiting for right here, the best fighting the best!" While Fury said, "we are two men who will fight anybody, this man has been trying to make a big fight with the other chump, I think we all know who we're talking about. But listen they called, I answered, I said send the contract, they sent it and I said yes. I got my rounds in here tonight, but when I come to America one thing I can promise is I'm knocking you the fuck out boy!" Wilder replied by saying, "There's one thing Tyson Fury has never had and that's the WBC belt, and if he ever thinks about having it he better wake up and apologise to me because he ain't never having it. I can't wait to fight you because I am going to knock you out, like I did to everyone who stepped in the ring with me, you've never been knocked out but you will be when you experience what it's like to be hit by the Bronze Bomber." Before Fury told Wilder, "You can't knock out what you can't hit, this man couldn't land a blow on me tonight. I promise you, I'm taking the WBC title and I'll bring it back and defend it right here in Belfast!" The pair then posed for photographers and a face off before shaking hands, with Fury's promoter Frank Warren stating that the fight was one hundred percent on, with an announcement on a date and venue in the U.S to be finalised.

On 27 September, the fight was finally officially announced to be taking place on 1 December, with the venue chosen to be the Staples Center in Los Angeles which won the rights ahead of venues in both Las Vegas and New York. A three-city press tour was also announced with London, New York and Los Angeles visited in the space of three days, beginning on 1 October.

Broadcasting

The fight is to be shown live on Showtime pay per view in the United States and on BT Sport Box Office in the United Kingdom. It will be the first boxing PPV event headlined by heavyweights on US TV since Hasim Rahman vs. Oleg Maskaev II in 2006, and also the first heavyweight fight to be pay per view in both the US and UK since Lennox Lewis fought Mike Tyson in 2002.

Country	Broadcasters
	Free-to-air	Cable/pay television	PPV	Stream
United States (host)	—		Showtime
United Kingdom	—		BT Sport Box Office	—
Ireland
Israel				Sport 1
Australia	—		Main Event	—
Austria	—			DAZN
Germany
Italy
Switzerland
Nordic countries Denmark Finland Norway Sweden	—		Viaplay
Panamá	Telemetro Panamá		—	Medcom Go
New Zealand	—		Sky Arena	—
Turkey	DMAX	—		DMAX

Press conferences

The fight had international press conferences in three cities:

• 1 October 2018 — BT Sport Headquarters, London, UK
• 2 October 2018 — Flight Deck at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum Complex, New York City, New York, U.S.
• 3 October 2018 — Star Plaza, Los Angeles, California. U.S.