Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury 2018-12-01

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Sat 1st December 2018 (UTC)

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Boxing

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2018

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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. Defending WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder will face challenger and former WBA (Super), WBO, IBF, IBO, The Ring, and lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

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 long 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 most recent fight that ended in a stunning first-round knockout in a rematch with Stiverne and 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.