Wilder-Fury 2: One Year Later

The old saying “what a difference a year makes” couldn’t hold any more truth than on this day last year when the biggest heavyweight fight to date between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury took place from the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas.

In case you forgot (which I doubt at this point), the over-five-year title reign of Wilder was ended by Fury, who put on a brilliant performance forcing Wilder’s corner to throw in the towel in the seventh round to become the new heavyweight champion.

“Shout out to Wilder. He showed the heart of a champion. He is a warrior. But I will say the king has returned.” Fury said after the victory

“The Gypsy King” did just that by putting on a clinic and just overpowering Wilder. It showed earlier on as he was the bigger man in the ring and just physically broke Wilder down, knocking him down in the fifth round and was academic from there until Marc Breland, Wilder’s trainer throw in the towel in the seventh round.

Ryan Hafey- PBC

The fight was cr-promoted by Top Rank Boxing and Premier Boxing Champions for the first time. Evan Korn, PR Director of Top Rank Boxing, spoke to me about how the combination of forces has been experienced.

“It’s been an excellent working relationship,” Korn said to Big Fight Weekend last year before the contest. “When you have people committed to a common goal – selling a major fight – there aren’t many issues. The most important thing is you have two fighters who have been generous with their time and who have sold the heck out of this matchup. It’s been hard work, but a very rewarding experience.”

I ran back down Evan to look back on the fight now as it’s been one year since Fury has reign heavyweight champion of the world and how things have changed since then.

“It feels like it took place ten years ago because the pandemic started a little over two weeks after that,” Korn said to Big Fight Weekend.”When we returned to the MGM bubble, you pass by the MGM Grand Garden entrance when you walk through the conference center, and that walkway would be empty. You couldn’t help but notice just less than one year prior that it was wall-to-wall people. ”

#WilderFury Vol. 2 was an all-time classic story ??

One year later, look back on the legendary night @Tyson_Fury. pic.twitter.com/uzbu3ThaDH

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) February 22, 2021

The list of excuses has ranged from Fury’s gloves being loaded, the heavy costume that Wilder walked into the ring with, Wilder not asking for the towel being thrown into and even blaming the now-fired Breland for contaminating his water. There aren’t enough words to describe how silly these all sound, but once the pandemic hit, all of these have been the bread and butter of Youtube Boxing channel conversations to this day.

(The fact that Wider blamed the water is something I’ve only seen in the movie SpaceJam and I didn’t see Bugs Bunny, Michael Jordan, or any of the starting five on the Monstars at ringside).

To compound issues on Wilder’s side is that the proposed third fight that was supposed to occur by the end of last year has not happened and is pressing forward with mediations to make still that a reality. While that will be the latest chapter in that soap opera, Fury has been in “ongoing talks” for a potential all-British showdown with unified champion Anthony Joshua sometime this summer, reportedly in Saudia Arabia.

Both camps of Fury and Joshua have been mum lately on the status with that taking place, but that seems to be the next logical move for both of them. For wilder, we’ll see who will be on the other end for him if he makes his in-ring return in 2021, as he hasn’t been in action since the loss to Fury.

But one year later, the most significant heavyweight spectacle to date was a big one and has transformed the landscape of the heavyweight division in boxing.