Boxing
Deontay Wilder broke his
right arm — the one that has led many to call him the hardest puncher in boxing
history — in the early days of his training camp prior to his Dec. 1, 2018,
fight at Staples Center in Los Angeles against lineal champion Tyson Fury. It
would require surgery.
Then, late in camp, Wilder
caught the flu bug. The result was that Wilder weighed in at just 212½, the
lowest he’d been since he was 207¼ in his pro debut more than a decade earlier.
Fury came in at 256½, so he had a 44-pound weight advantage at the start of the
bout.
Wilder has weighed 223¼ and
219½ in his next two bouts, and figures to weigh in the low 220s when he meets
Fury on Feb. 22 at the MGM Grand Garden in a rematch for the WBC and lineal
heavyweight titles.
He won’t, though, cut the
weight differential between them. If Fury is telling the truth, Wilder may face
an even greater weight deficit in the rematch. The 6-foot-9 Fury told Yahoo
Sports he expects to weigh around 270 pounds in the second fight.
He’s been working with
nutritionist George Lockhart, who has been preparing his meals, and said it’s
not part of a grand strategy to get bigger, or a repeat of what Andy Ruiz Jr.
did in his rematch with Anthony Joshua when he essentially ate, drank and partied
his way out of the IBF-WBA-WBO heavyweight titles.
Ruiz has never had a
bodybuilder’s physique, and he came in at 268 when he stunned Joshua on June 1
and knocked him out in the seventh round to win the titles. Ahead of the
rematch, though, Ruiz partied and lived the good life, which he admitted later,
and weighed a whopping 283½ on Dec. 7 in Saudi Arabia. It was the third-highest
figure of his career.
Fury, though, says he’s
eating well and training hard and not concerned about a number on a scale.
“It’s not like I sat there
and figured out a number and said, ‘I want to hit that number,’” Fury said.
“I’m a heavyweight. I can weigh what I want to weigh. What I want is to be at
my best on Feb. 22. So I brought in George Lockhart and I told him to do his
thing and make sure I’m at my best. Whatever that is, 240, 250, 270, whatever,
that’s what I’ll weigh. It’s no secret plan.”
Many eyebrows were raised,
though, when Fury first said he thought he’d come in around 270 at the Feb. 21
weigh-in. In order to win, he needs to be able to avoid Wilder’s blistering
right hand, and it’s normally easier to do that when you’re quicker and able to
move better.
Fury promoter Bob Arum of
Top Rank has been to watch Fury work out several times, and has raved about
what he’s seen.
“He’s looked amazing, better
than I have seen him,” Arum said. “This is no bull----: I really believe him
when he says he’s going to knock Wilder out.”
But Arum isn’t so sure of
Fury’s claim that he’ll be 270. The only thing he knows is that Fury isn’t
partying and hasn’t ballooned up like Ruiz did.
“I’ve seen him a lot and he
looks great, but I can’t tell what the hell he weighs by looking at him,” Arum
said. “I think he looks like he’s ready to fight a big fight and is ready to
perform at a very high level. I couldn’t tell you if he’s 250, 260, 270 or 280.
I don’t have that expertise.
“Now, this is just my
opinion, and they’re not telling me anything, but I don’t think he’s going to
weigh 270. You know how he is; he likes to [expletive] around. I don’t know for
sure, though. He looks good whatever he weighs, I can assure you of that.”
Credit: Yahoonews
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