There haven’t been many 50-50 fights in the heavyweight division over the past few years, but we’ve got one in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
Deontay Wilder has been the WBC champion for nearly four years now, but this weekend is arguably the first time he has taken on a truly elite fighter at their peak.
Luis Ortiz – who Wilder beat by 10th-round TKO in March – was clearly the American’s best opponent to date, but he was 38 at the time and was hurt by the age gap as the fight went on.
Along with his punching power, Wilder showed real heart to stop Ortiz when he was clearly behind on the scorecards. It was an impressive victory.
He was outboxed by the older, shorter Cuban for much of the fight, though, and now faces a much stiffer test in Fury.
At 6ft 9in, the Mancunian holds a two-inch height advantage and is an incredible technical boxer for his size.
His victory over Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 was very cagey and didn’t win him many fans, but, in truth, he schooled the then-champion, who was unbeaten in 22 fights at the time.
Fury’s approach will be similar on Saturday night.
He’ll know that Wilder has the power to stop anyone with one punch, and, as a result, he won’t be goaded into a war.
Fury was a 6/1 underdog when he avoided being hit with Klitschko’s big right hand en route to victory, and is a great price for the Englishman to triumph again this weekend.
A win on points for the lineal champion is even better value at , given that he’s much more likely to take Wilder the distance than knock him out.
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