A couple of weeks ago, it was Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk battling it out for the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO versions of the heavyweight title. Usyk won that fight and is now in line for a unification bout against the winner of Saturday night’s WBC World Heavyweight title clash between Tyson Fury, the Champion and Deontay Wilder.
Saturday night’s bout will be the third time that the two fighters have met. They shared a controversial draw in their first fight, before Tyson Fury dominated the second, seeing Wilder’s corner throw in the towel with their fighter in real trouble.
Despite talk of a unification bout with the then champion Joshua, that never materialised and instead Wilder exercised his right for another tilt at Fury, which is coming up this weekend in Paradise, Nevada.
Of course, when a heavyweight world title is on the line, there is always plenty of betting interest in the event and Saturday’s fight won’t be any different. Even if you signed up through Bet365 Games or another of the bet365 sites, you can still access all the great betting options on bet365 Sport through your account.
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Alternatively, if you are located in the United States and want to enjoy a spot of betting on the fight, which also features a stacked undercard, then check out the markets and odds on offer at BetRivers Sportsbook.
How have we arrived at Fury v Wilder III? Let’s take a look back at the history of the two fighters before we predict how Saturday night’s fight will go, and what the future could hold for the heavyweight division.
Fury V Wilder – A History
Both fighters enjoyed relatively short careers as an amateur before making their real
mark as professionals.
Wilder was arguably the more exciting fighter of the two and he maintains a 98% knockout record against opponents he has beaten, many of those victories coming in the first round. After progressing through the ranks as a heavyweight, his first notable win in the UK came against Audley Harrison, who retired after being knocked out in the first round.
Further wins followed before Wilder earned his first world title shot against champion Bermane Stiverne. The fight went 12 rounds, with Wilder declared the unanimous champion after dominating the fight.
Successful defences against Eric Molina, Johann Duhaupas, Artur Szpilka, Chris Arreola, Gerald Washington, Bermane Stiverne (for the second time) and Luis Ortiz followed, before next up for Wilder was Tyson Fury.
Fury followed a similar path through the heavyweight division, although he had a few sticky moments on his way to a World Title fight. Notably in his first fight with John McDermott (which he controversially won) and then he was knocked down by Neven Pajkic although came back strongly to knock Pajkic down twice in the third and win the fight.
After going undefeated at British and European level, Fury moved on to face Kevin Johnson in a WBC title eliminator in Belfast, with Fury winning by unanimous decision after 12 rounds.
His next fight also saw him floored by Steve Cunningham, although Fury battled back to hand Cunningham his first knockout loss of his career. He then defeated Dereck Chisora for the second time, Joey Abell and Christian Hammer before he earned a shot at the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, Lineal And The Ring heavyweight titles against Wladimir Klitschko.
Fury won the titles by a unanimous decision, but after slumping into depression and substance abuse, he decided to vacate his titles.
After treatment for his issues and a strict training regime, Fury returned to the ring in 2018, defeating Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pianeta. Still undefeated Fury now had Deontay Wilder in his sights and the date was set for the bout, the 1st December 2018.
Fury v Wilder I – Controversy And Drama
The first fight between the two was arguably one of the strangest heavyweight title fights in many years. For the majority of the fight, Fury boxed superbly at range, keeping well away from Wilder’s powerful punches and consistently winning rounds.
However, in the 9th round Wilder knocked Fury down, but the Gypsy King bounced back taking rounds 10 and 11, but in Round 12, Wilder seemed to have knocked his opponent out, only for Fury once again to beat the count and actually finish that round the dominant fighter.
Most people felt that Fury won the opener on points, despite the two knockdowns, but in the end, the judges awarded the fight a technical draw, one scoring in Wilder’s favour, one for Fury and the third judge seeing the fight as a draw.
Wins over Tom Schwarz and Otto Wallin followed for Fury, before he would once again lock horns with Wilder on 22nd February 2020.
Fury v Wilder II – The Champion Dethroned
If there was some doubt as to who won the first fight between the two, there was no
doubt in the second. Fury dominated the fight from start to finish establishing himself as the aggressor in the centre of the ring from the first round.
In the third round, Fury floored Wilder, which hurt the champion. Wilder went down twice more in the round, although these were ruled as slips by the referee.
In the fifth, Fury knocked down Wilder again and struggled to hit back against his opponent. By the seventh round, Fury was in complete control and inflicting punishing shots on Wilder, so much so that his corner threw in the towel to stop him taking further punishment.
Wilder complained that his team should not have done that, but it was a magnificent victory for Fury who was well ahead on every one of the three judges scorecard.
A prospective unification fight with Anthony Joshua loomed next for Fury, but Wilder invoked his clause for a rematch which meant that fight was put on hold, Joshua would instead take on (and lose to) Oleksandr Usyk and now we await Saturday’s third instalment of Fury v Wilder.
Fury v Wilder III – Once And For All Preview & Tips
On a packed card that also has three other heavyweight clashes (Jared Anderson v Vladimir Tereshkin, Robert Helenius v Adam Kownacki, and Efe Ajagba v Frank Sanchez), the two boxes have already had a number of run ins ahead of the bout.
A heady press conference saw the fighters both talk up their chances, before the pair of them left the stage before the head to head pictures, hurling insults at each other as they went.
They have also sparred on social media back and forth of late, all of which means Saturday’s bout will carry with it plenty of added spice.
It is hard to make too much of a case for Wilder here to be truthful. The former Champion has knocked down Fury with power punches before, but the current Champion has climbed off the canvas and not just recovered, but then outboxed the American.
However, Wilder struggled with Fury’s power in the second fight and never recovered fully from that third round lockdown and in truth, he was easily beaten in that fight.
Fury is 1/3 to win the fight and he is the boxer I’d back, and I’d be looking for him to win the fight by a decision, which is an 11/4 shot with bet365 Sport.
