By Sean Crose
“I’ve never lost a fight,” WBC and lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury said in a lengthy interview with The Overlap’s Gary Neville. “I don’t think I’ll ever lose a fight.” He may be facing the explosive Deontay Wilder for the third time on October 9th, but the towering Englishman exudes complete confidence, whether the subject is a fight with Wilder, Anthony Joshua or anyone else. “They’re all about business,” he said of his peers. “They’re all about making money.” Fury sees himself as being cast from a different mold. “I don’t really care about all that sort of stuff, business or whatever,” the undefeated heavyweight stated.
“I’ve seen it lately of a lot of fighters,” Fury continued, “they’re doing it for money.” Fury made it clear that he’s known his share of wealthy people, but “the most unhappy people are the richest ones. That’s a fact. That’s true.” The wealthy, he argued, feel that “enough is never enough. They’re always chasing more.” One thing Fury doesn’t seem too keen on chasing is a long awaited match with fellow titlist Anthony Joshua. “I’m not optimistic that the fight will ever happen to be fair,” he said. “He (Joshua) talks a good game but is he really a fighting man? I’m not really too sure.” And, being Fury, he couldn’t resist taking a swipe at his fellow Brit: “After his last performance where he got stopped by a little fat kid,” he said, “I’m not sure that he can even go two or three rounds.”
As for the always formidable Wilder, Fury was actually quite gracious. “If the shoe was on the other foot,” he said of Wilder going to court to get a second rematch, “I’d want my third fight…because it wasn’t really my fault or Wilder’s fault why the rematch never happened (the contract deadline for a third fight between the two men ran out because of the Covid pandemic, something a arbitrator ruled couldn’t legally stand).” Although Wilder clearly wants money, the defending champion feels there’s more to the third fight for the hard hitting American than a payday.
“Listen,” said Fury, “he wants the chance to avenge his loss as well. His only loss. And he knows he’s got a massive punch so he can end the fight in one.” Fury then admitted outright that Wilder’s power truly is all it’s been cracked up to be. “He really does have the power where you don’t feel it,” he said of the fighter known as the Bronze Bomber. “It just switches you off like a light switch…you don’t realize what’s happened.” Of course Fury added later that perhaps it was his weight loss that previously caused him to have gone down twice from Wilder’s blows. “I don’t know if he really is that big a puncher,” he said of his opponent, “but we’ll find out anyway in October.”
