Deontay won’t make same mistakes Klitschko did against Fury

Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: Deontay Wilder says he’s looked at former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko’s fight against Tyson Fury, and he doesn’t plan on repeating those same mistakes when he faces the British fighter this Saturday night.

Wilder will be putting his WBC heavyweight title on the line against Fury on Saturday night on Showtime PPV at the Staples enter in Los Angeles, California. The winner of the fight will be the #1 heavyweight in the division. Anthony Joshua has failed to take the spot due to the lack of names that he’s been beating. The only name on Joshua is Wladimir, and he was 41-years-old and coming off of a 2-year layoff at the time that he beat him last year. This was by means the prime Wladimir that Joshua defeated.

If Wilder loses this fight, it won’t be for the lack of trying. Unlike Klitschko, Wilder, 6’7″, plans on throwing his best right hands from start to the bitter finish on Saturday, December 1. For Fury to beat the talented 32-year-old 2008 Olympic Bronze medalist from Alabama, he’s going to need to avoid his heat-seeking right hand bombs and use a lot of movement. The old slapping approach Fury used against Wladimir isn’t going to work against a power puncher like Wilder. That’s not going to stop Wilder letting his right hands go.

WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) observed how the 6’6″ Klitchko failed to let his hands go against the 6’9″ Fury (27-0, 19 KOs) in their fight on November 28, 2015. Despite having a big advantage in punching power, talent, speed and experience, Wladimir fought like he was afraid of being countered by Fury the entire fight. This prevented Wladimir from throwing punches, for the reason that he was too afraid of getting countered. To be successful against a slapper like Fury, you have to be willing to let your hands go and get countered by him. Wladimir wasn’t willing to do that, so he lost the fight by a 12 round decision. Fury got a little help obviously by the referee assigned to the fight, since he let him get away with rabbit punches in 11 of the 12 rounds. Fury arguably should have lost three points at least for his rabbit shots. When a fighter loses that many points for the same foul, it’s common for them to be disqualified. It was was open season on rabbit punching by Fury against Wladimir. The whole complexion of the match would have changed if the referee Tony Weeks had policed Fury’s punches to the back of the head from the very start of the fight until waiting until the 11th round to take a single point away from him.

“I have a killer instinct. I’m sure [Klitschko] thinks about that fight all the time,” Wilder said to the latimes.com. “He has to. To get defeated by Tyson Fury after being a champion so long … and then you don’t throw half the punches you throw, that’s going to [mess] with you … for the rest of your life…I don’t want any excuses or regrets. I want to say I gave it my all … knock him out,” Wilder said.

In his biggest win of his career against Wladimir, Fury was able to keep the 1996 Olympic gold medalist from throwing his power punches by using constant feints, jabs and head movements. Fury took advantage of the fact that Wladimir doesn’t like to throw body shots by using head movement, and leaning backwards against the ropes. That same tactic might not work for Fury against a guy like Wilder, as he’ll go after his midsection if it’s the only thing that’s available to him. Fury going into the ostrich mode of sticking his head into the sand by leaning his head almost into the front laps of boxing fans at ringside is going to lead his midsection vulnerable. Wilder isn’t going to ask for permission to hit Fury to the belly. As good as Wladimir was as a fighter, he was always the type that needed to be told what to do during each round. Without Wladimir’s trainer barking orders, he was lost. That was the case in Fury fight. Wladimir wasn’t able or willing to follow the instructions of his trainer Johnathon Banks, and that sealed his fate. With him ignoring Banks’ instructions in between rounds, Klitschko didn’t have the ability to think on his feet to solve the Fury riddle.

Heavyweight contender Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz is predicting a knockout win for Wilder on Saturday. Ortiz thinks that if Fury comes charging out of the gate and decides that he wants to slug with Deontay, the fight is going to be over with almost immediately. Ortiz believes that Fury could make the fight longer if he uses his boxing to keep from getting tagged by Wilder, but he still sees it as a fight that will be won by the American fighter.

“If Fury decides he wants to dip and dive and move, then he can extend the fight,” Ortiz said. “But it’s all up to Wilder. If Fury decides he wants to come to the middle of the ring and fight, then it’s going to be over quick. Wilder is going to catch him. Prediction: Wilder by KO.”

There’s little doubt that Fury, 30, is going to be dipping, diving and moving the entire fight against Wilder. Fury isn’t going to just stand and fight Wilder like he was doing against the timid Klitschko in 2015. Fury is a smart guy. He knows that if he stands in front of Wilder, he’s going to get smeared all over the canvas on Saturday night. It could be a fun fight if Fury stands his ground and lets his punches fly. It’s not likely he’ll do that though. Against Wladimir, Fury was on the move through most of the fight. When Fury did stand and fight, he was holding, mauling like a big bear, and throwing punches to the back of Wladimir’s head. You would have to assume that Fury will do the same thing against Wilder. Fury won’t be able to move as much against Wilder as he did in the fight against Wladimir, due the huge amount of weight that he’s lost in training. Fury was 390+ lbs when he started training for his comeback earlier this year. In his first fight of his comeback against Sefer Seferi, he weighed 276 lbs last August. Fury looked slow, stationary and sluggish. In Fury’s last fight against Francesco Pianeta, he weighed 258 lbs. That was 10 lbs over the 247 lbs that he weighed for the Klitschko fight. Fury is expected to come in around 250 lbs against Wilder on Saturday. With all the weight that Fury has taken off this year, he’ll be lucky if he can stay on the move for more than a round without gassing out and needing to stand and fight. That means Wilder is going to have a stationary target for him to throw his power shots. Fury will need to do a lot of dipping and ducking for him to keep from getting knocked cold by one of Wilder’s vicious right hands.

Speaking of Ortiz (29-1, 25 KOs), he’ll be fighting on the Wilder-Fury undercard against Travis Kauffman (32-2, 23 KOs) in a 10 round fight. Ortiz wants a rematch with Wilder after losing to him earlier this year by a 10th round knockout on March 3. Wilder has a mandatory defense that he needs to get out of the way against Dominic Breazeale in 2019. That fight might happen next if a unification match against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Anthony Joshua isn’t made. Joshua is fighting on April 13, and still doesn’t have an opponent. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn says Wilder is the fight they want. However, there’s a good possibility Joshua will face Dillian Whyte on the April 13 date. Ortiz can put himself in position to get another fight against Wilder if he keeps winning. Whyte had the chance to earn the secondary mandatory spot by facing Ortiz, but he chose not to take the fight.