WHAT CAN WILDER DO BETTER?

Hi Doug,

Been a while since I’ve written in, but if Fury/Wilder 2 don’t get me off my arse then what will?

It looks like most are calling it 50.01% Fury and 49.99% Wilder, with Wilder winning by KO/TKO or Fury winning by points. Anything in the last week change your mind on this?

In my humble arm chair opinion I can’t see what Wilder can improve on from the last fight. I mean he can’t hit Fury any harder can he?

The Breazeale win was dominant, but with all due respect Breazeale is levels below Wilder. I thought Wilder was too far behind on points to recover against Ortiz, before the knockout. Although the KO was spectacular, clinical, precise, run out of words….

Fury on the other hand looks in much better shape than the first fight. Fury is saying he’ll go for the KO. He would have watched the Ortiz fight and thought not only can I run rings around Wilder but I can tag him also. Wilder’s been wobbled and maybe Fury is thinking he can finish the job. Maybe this may be behind the change of trainer for this fight? I do believe Fury is lot more smarter and calculating than he lets on.

If Fury can win by KO, that’s a big deal. Sets up a brilliant rematch, and why not. Also bragging rights over AJ.

They’ve both have two fights since the last outing and I agree with most that Wilder has fought the better opposition and has the momentum going into this fight. But he’s not shown us he can do anything better than he did in their last outing. For example if he’d out boxed Ortiz there’s an argument that his boxing has improved. Two KO’s proves he’s still the same, and that power didn’t put Fury away last time. Hence I’m back to, what can he’d better this time?

Win/lose/draw Fury/AJ or Wilder/AJ are still fights I’d like to see in 2020. But looks like the Fury Wilder 3 is already signed.

Looking forward to this one and fully expect it to deliver. Keep up the good work. – Tabraze, London, U.K.

Thanks, Tabraze. There’s a big-fight atmosphere here in Las Vegas that I haven’t felt for a heavyweight championship rematch since Lennox Lewis’s return bouts with Evander Holyfield and Hasim Rahman. It’s been THAT long.

We all want to see the winner of Saturday’s showdown take on the unified beltholder, Anthony Joshua, but we should all know that mega-matchup will not take place until 2021 at the earliest. It is what it is.

It looks like most are calling it 50.01% Fury and 49.99% Wilder, with Wilder winning by KO/TKO or Fury winning by points. Right now, at least according to Vegas odds, Wilder is the slight favorite. That could change by fight time, but it will remain close.

You big dosser!

Anything in the last week change your mind on this? No, Fury looks bigger, which has prompted some to speculate on whether he might be able to put it on Wilder and may score a stoppage, but I’ve only seen him in street clothes. We won’t know what he looks like until he steps on the scales later today. Still, I’ve heard from enough sources that spent time in camp with Fury that he and his team are serious about getting more respect on his punches. Having said that, Fury knows that boxing is his bread and butter.

In my humble arm chair opinion I can’t see what Wilder can improve on from the last fight. I mean he can’t hit Fury any harder can he? I don’t think Fury wants to know the answer to that question.

The Breazeale win was dominant, but with all due respect Breazeale is levels below Wilder. Yeah, of course. Breazeale wasn’t rated by The Ring. He’s essentially a fringe contender or a gatekeeper, a guy who struggles with prospects. No disrespect meant toward Dominic because he makes for good fights and seems like a quality human being, but if had he fought Daniel Dubois last year, I would not have been surprised if the British prospect took him out in one or two rounds.

I thought Wilder was too far behind on points to recover against Ortiz, before the knockout. Although the KO was spectacular, clinical, precise, run out of words…. All’s well that end’s well, that’s the motto of Team Wilder. That mentality has earned Wilder a “puncher’s mystique” as strong as any I’ve witnessed in my lifetime, including Thomas Hearns, Mike Tyson, Julian Jackson, Prince Naseem Hamed and Felix Trinidad. The thing is, I think they’ve bought into the mystique (which is understandable) and an unbeaten puncher will always feel invincible until time runs out and they haven’t landed the “one-hitter-quitter” or until the other guy zaps them first.

Fury on the other hand looks in much better shape than the first fight. Fury is saying he’ll go for the KO. He would have watched the Ortiz fight and thought not only can I run rings around Wilder but I can tag him also. Yeah, that’s his team’s mantra going into this rematch: be more offense-minded. However, we won’t know what kind of shape Fury is really in until we see him in the ring.

Wilder’s been wobbled and maybe Fury is thinking he can finish the job. Maybe this may be behind the change of trainer for this fight? I do believe Fury is lot more smarter and calculating than he lets on. He is, and he’s also a master at mind games, so he does and says a lot of things just to get a reaction from his opponents, the media and the public. For all we know, he may not even try to hit Wilder hard, let alone go for the KO. That uncertainty gets into his opponents heads (no matter what they claim).

If Fury can win by KO, that’s a big deal. Sets up a brilliant rematch, and why not. Also bragging rights over AJ. I don’t know if Fury or Wilder are as fixated on Joshua as the rest of us. They may not feel the need to compare themselves to him. That’s more for the fans and the media.

They’ve both have two fights since the last outing and I agree with most that Wilder has fought the better opposition and has the momentum going into this fight. Definitely, but Fury’s two bouts served a purpose, which was to keep him focused and in training, and to elevate his profile here in the States while getting him comfortable with camps in Vegas.

But he’s not shown us he can do anything better than he did in their last outing. Yeah, you already said that. He can be healthier, better prepared for Fury’s style, and more confident, can’t he?

WILDER-FURY 2 PREDICTION

Hi Dougy,

I saw your Pick of Fury by points. My analysis is a little simpler.

Fury is not a ko artist. Wilder has a good chin and he took Ortiz’s power twice. Fury is not close to Ortiz in terms of punching power to keep Wilder at bay. His skills may be sublime but I see a Wilder KO mid rounds. I hope your prediction is correct and that I am wrong.

On another note when you are in assignment in Vegas what are some of your favorite places to eat? Enjoy the fight. – Aaron in Miami

Wherever the food and drink are free, my friend. Wednesday night it was Wolfgang Puck’s with Steve Kim and Jim Boone of KO Tickets. Boonie was buying, so I made sure to leave the Bat Cave to join them.

Fury is not a ko artist. Duh. You still wouldn’t want the 6-foot-9, 270 pounder to slap you upside your head.

Ortiz landed but Wilder proved he could take it. Photo by Ryan Hafey/PBC

Wilder has a good chin and he took Ortiz’s power twice. True. Wilder’s got tremendous heart and recuperative ability.

Fury is not close to Ortiz in terms of punching power to keep Wilder at bay. True, but Fury won’t approach Wilder like Ortiz, who is a plodding, forward-marching southpaw with a very basic boxing style (and not much in the way of head movement). Fury’s a stick-and-mover, his idea of keeping an opponent at bay is going to be totally different.

His skills may be sublime but I see a Wilder KO mid rounds. Nothing, except perhaps Fury’s second-round KO victory prediction, would surprise me in this matchup.

I hope your prediction is correct and that I am wrong. Why? Boxing can’t go wrong with either man as Ring Magazine/WBC/lineal champ. As long as the fight is good and the PPV does well, boxing wins.

THE BIG REMATCH

Hi Dougie,

All good with you?

So the second big heavyweight championship rematch in just over 2 months is upon us. It was really interesting reading the “experts” picks earlier this week in The Ring. The writers, ex-boxers, trainers and promotors voted 12-8 in favour of Wilder, while I have noticed that the bookies are favouring Fury. In situations like this it amazes me how accurate the bookies generally are. I guess those cold hearted b*stards are very good at protecting their money and detaching every bit of emotion from any situation. I saw that you are picking Fury by decision. I am tending to agree as the fight gets nearer.

After their first match I was in two thoughts about what might happen when the inevitable rematch actually took place. Surely Fury, who had just a few months previously returned from a 2½ year layoff, would be far better in the rematch. After all, he clearly had the deck stacked against him first time – drastic weight loss, inactivity, fighting away from home, recent drug and depression issues, etc. But I also felt that there was so much potential for Wilder to do so many different things that would improve his chances – jab more, go to the body, throw proper combinations. Surely if The Bronze Bomber were to do any or all of these his chances would be greatly enhanced? Do you think Wilder is capable of changing his style and adding these to his arsenal?

The consensus seems to be that Wilder has improved significantly since the first fight. I’m not convinced this is the case as the Breazeale fight was too short to tell us anything that we didn’t already know and in the Ortiz rematch Wilder looked very ordinary until landing the big bomb late in round seven. Do you go along with the thought that was planned and Wilder was just biding his time or was he really being comprehensively outworked and outboxed?

Two quick questions? How much to you think what either fighter weighs in at will make a difference? What would you want to see both fighters weigh if you were each fighter’s head trainer? Enjoy your weekend. – Jeremy, UK

I’m trying to, Jeremy, but I’ve got a very stubborn cold that’s killing my sinuses and voice (especially in this dry desert air), so I might have to settle for just getting good work done while I’m here.

I don’t think the weight will make that much difference in how they fight. They are what they are in terms of styles: Wilder is a pure puncher; Fury is a pure ring general. Nothing is going to change that. I assume that the heavier they are the less mobile they will be, thus the more chances for exchanges. I’m all for that, so if Wilder comes in at 235 and Fury tips the scales at 280, I’ll be just fine with that! LOL.

Photo by Esther Lin / Showtime

After their first match I was in two thoughts about what might happen when the inevitable rematch actually took place. Surely Fury, who had just a few months previously returned from a 2½ year layoff, would be far better in the rematch. Well, yeah, common sense would tell any of us that. I picked Wilder by late stoppage in the first fight (like pretty much everyone else) because I thought it was one or two bouts too soon for Fury to share the ring with any top heavyweight, let alone the hardest puncher.

But I also felt that there was so much potential for Wilder to do so many different things that would improve his chances – jab more, go to the body, throw proper combinations. Yeah, and an uppercut here and there wouldn’t be a bad idea, either. But Wilder is what he is. He’s not prime Riddick Bowe.

Surely if The Bronze Bomber were to do any or all of these his chances would be greatly enhanced? Do you think Wilder is capable of changing his style and adding these to his arsenal? I’m sure he is capable of adding a few things to his arsenal, and maybe that’s all he needs, but when have you ever seen him do all of the things that you mentioned during one fight? Team Wilder know what they’ve got: The hardest hitter, and they’re riding with that talent. Wilder and his team may not want to change anything.

The consensus seems to be that Wilder has improved significantly since the first fight. He looks the same to me.

I’m not convinced this is the case as the Breazeale fight was too short to tell us anything that we didn’t already know and in the Ortiz rematch Wilder looked very ordinary until landing the big bomb late in round seven. Those fights were all about the style matchups, but hey, they produced the leading KO of the Year candidates.

Do you go along with the thought that was planned and Wilder was just biding his time or was he really being comprehensively outworked and outboxed? Can’t both be true? Team Wilder knew that Ortiz tends to lose steam after four rounds, and then the Cuban slows down and drops his guard a bit. They were content to wait for that to happen and then strike (so it was part of their game plan), but in the meantime Ortiz was outpointing Wilder.

WILDER-FURY 1 SCORES

Dear Doogie,

First, I have been one of your many fans for years and want to thank you for your insight.

The question I have is has any top 10 heavyweight ever been KO’d by a punch to the body and whether this plan of attack could benefit Deontay Wilder against Fury?

Also, how can one explain why so many “experts” believe Wilder clearly lost their first fight given the two 10-8 rounds? Does that mean Wilder lost every other round? – Robert

Yeah, that was the case on some of the media’s scorecards, including Mike “The Source” Coppinger, then with RingTV.com and now a major bigshot with The Athletic. But most of us “experts” a saw a closer fight with Fury edging it on points. I scored it eight rounds to four for Fury, so he won by a two-point margin on my unofficial scorecard when factoring in the two point deductions from the ninth- and 10^th-round knockdowns. That’s why I Tweeted that I “wasn’t mad at the draw,” immediately incurring the wrath of Fury Nation. Social media is so much fun.

The question I have is has any top 10 heavyweight ever been KO’d by a punch to the body and whether this plan of attack could benefit Deontay Wilder against Fury? The second part of your question is much easier to answer – yes, attacking Fury’s body is a good idea for Wilder, I mean, geez, it’s a big enough target, right? – the first part is a real humdinger of a trivia question. I honestly can’t think of a top-10 heavyweight getting stopped by a body shot, not off the top of my head anyway. The most famous heavyweight body punch resulted in the championship changing hands WAY back in the day when Bob Fitszimmons (the middleweight champ) iced James Corbett with his famous “solar plexus” punch. That was in 1897! There HAS to have been a top heavyweight done in by a body shot during the “modern era” but I can’t think of a for-sure top-10 contender. Tommy Morrison’s stoppage of Yuri Vaulin stands out in my mind, but I can’t recall if the Russian prospect was a legit top-10 contender. Maybe. I’ll have to check The Ring’s rankings from that period. (And I would do that if I was at home, but here in Vegas, holed up in my room like a freaky hermit doing s__t like this.) Tommy was so damn good at attacking the body, especially with his left. So was Gerry Cooney. He hurt a lot of opponents with his left to the body on his way up the heavyweight ladder in the late 1970s. His body shot stoppage of Ron Lyle in 1980 might count, but again, I’m not sure if the former title challenger was still in the top 10 at that time. Yo, go do some damn research and find out for us! LOL.

Rocky relied on a brutal body attack, and he’d hit anything below the neck.

Anyway, I hope we see some body shots from both Fury and Wilder tomorrow night. A good body attack was once the hallmark of all the great champs and it was part of the arsenals of legendary heavyweights from Jack Dempsey to Joe Louis to Rocky Marciano to Joe Frazier to Mike Tyson, however, they used their body shots to soften up their opponents for “finishers” to the head (for instance, Max Schmeling said the most damaging shots Louis landed on him in their rematch was to the body, where he incurred spinal damage, The Rock would damage opponents arms to bring down their guard, and Iron Mike’s pet KO combo was a right-to-the-body-right-uppercut).  

VIVA LAS VEGAS!

Hey Doug,

I’m writing to you believe it or not on a chilly San Francisco morning, sipping on an ice coffee (Irish-ed up of course I haven’t gone full west coast). Been a while since I wrote in but had to today as after thirty years as a boxing fan I’ve finally made the trip across the pond.

We’re flying out to Vegas this afternoon to support the Big Guy and wondered if you had any advice for a first timer regarding where the boxing hangouts are and how to get into the weigh in etc.

I also wanted to add my voice to try to stem the tide of what this week has seen a baffling shift of narrative in favour of a Wilder win. I don’t know if it’s the cool Pacific breeze talking Doug but I’ve got 100% faith that our boy Tyson will get the job done on Saturday night.

I always think that rematches as a puzzle are easier to solve as you have all the clues laid out in front of you and a list of questions already answered;

Can Fury survive twelve rounds with a feared but not technically gifted puncher? Yes. He’s already done so.

Will Fury’s superior boxing ability be enough to win the fight? Yes, he should have won the last one.

Will those Beyoncé dollars have any bearing on the outcome of the fight? Well you know better than me Doug!

The biggest question in the first fight was whether the fight had come too soon for Fury. And the answer was yes, it had. And he still won (in my eyes at least.)

I like Wilder and no matter what people say, he deserves to be where he is, but I just think a fitter, focused and more confident Fury makes mincemeat out of him. Take care Doug, see you in Vegas! – Mark

From your lips to God’s ears, Mark. I’m glad you’ll be in Vegas to witness what will hopefully be another memorable (maybe unforgettable) heavyweight championship showdown. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and questions.

We’re flying out to Vegas this afternoon to support the Big Guy and wondered if you had any advice for a first timer regarding where the boxing hangouts are and how to get into the weigh in etc. Anywhere inside the MGM Grand is a boxing hangout – the lobby, outside of the media center, every watering hole, etc., and if you want to make sure to get inside the Grand Garden Arena for the weigh-in SHOW UP EARLY.

I also wanted to add my voice to try to stem the tide of what this week has seen a baffling shift of narrative in favour of a Wilder win. There’s nothing baffling about it. It’s an even matchup and it’s hard to go against a bona-fide KO artist with a history of obliterating rivals in return bouts when he’s in a rematch with an opponent that he’s already proven the ability to drop and hurt.

I don’t know if it’s the cool Pacific breeze talking Doug but I’ve got 100% faith that our boy Tyson will get the job done on Saturday night. That’s why we love British fans, nothing “fair weather” about ya (see what I did there?)

I always think that rematches as a puzzle are easier to solve as you have all the clues laid out in front of you and a list of questions already answered; Yeah, that’s easy to say when you’re not the one who has to share the ring with a monstrous puncher hell bent on decapitating you for 36 minutes.

Respect. Photo by Esther Lin/Showtime

Can Fury survive twelve rounds with a feared but not technically gifted puncher? Yes. He’s already done so. That’s true. We’ll see if he can do it again and what the judges make of it.

Will Fury’s superior boxing ability be enough to win the fight? Yes, he should have won the last one. I think his boxing ability was enough in December 2018. That may not be the case in February 2020 (which might be why he brought in Javan Hill, AKA “SugarHill Steward,” and put on some weight).

Will those Beyoncé dollars have any bearing on the outcome of the fight? Well you know better than me Doug! If knew better than ANYONE I’d be betting on this fight. I’m not.

Email Fischer at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter and IG at @dougiefischer, and join him and Coach Schwartz and friends on Periscope every Sunday from SMC track.

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