Fury Wilder III (SPOILERS)

Wow!

What an epic encounter. I’ll not pretend I didn’t think this fight needed to happen – that was down to arbitration. I’ll also not pretend I thought Fury might be out of sorts physically and mentally having not been in the ring for 18 months. But OMG, did he – and full credit to Wilder also – deliver one of the best heavyweight bouts in many a year.

Wilder, adding weight to get extra power for an early KO, almost got him the win in round 4, but Fury somehow pulled himself together. The look in Wilder’s eyes from that point was the haunted expression of a man confronted by a supernatural entity he did not know how to defeat.

And Fury, with his amazing ring work, is just on another level.

Worth waking up for, absolutely.

Agreed – worth every single penny – an astounding fight. How Wilder stayed up as long as he did I will never know.

Yep, big respect to Wilder for literally hanging in there whilst still looking capable of landing that KO right from time to time. If he didn’t know deep down before, then surely he must now, that he can’t beat Fury and will always be remembered for such.

Fury on the other hand is such an unusual beast in the ring. He’s pure box office. His post-fight interviews – and singing – only add to his legacy.

Fury wasn’t at his best, but even with that he’s still got the chin, determination and ability to just grind Wilder down.

Was a real battle and worthy of ending the trilogy, it always amazes me that a guy who’s nearly 20 stone can have that level of energy, and at his size the ability he has, at the same time wondering how Wilder hasn’t got the same level, or better conditioning for a 12 rounder.

Best man won though, will be interesting to see what happens next, all the talk of Usyk/Joshua, but Whyte is also waiting patiently, think he might get the fight before any unification occurs.

Was it better than rocky 4?

Wilder certainly gave it everything, and was better than he was in the 2nd fight.

But Fury is just a force of nature.

On fight two I couldn’t be bothered to get up so watched it the next morning and regretted it. Last night I very nearly did the same – I honestly thought it couldn’t have lived up to either of the first two.

How wrong I was and how glad I am to have got up. Utterly mesmerising.

Pretty decisive that. Great fun. Don’t know how Wilder lasted so long with no legs since about the 6th round. He was pretty awful though, swinging and leaving his chin out there so many times.

Remember when fury got put on his arse by Steve Cunningham in about his tenth fight. If you had told me then he’d be (arguably)the best heavyweight the world has seen since Lennox Lewis I’d have laughed in your face..

Fair play to Fury for getting up twice and for some great moments, but some of the head holding got a bit much.

I had the fear for Wilder from about the 7th on, apart from his wee flurry in the 10th round he took a beating.

Have to be honest, didn’t expect this type of celebration after the fight!