Tyson Fury challenges Deontay Wilder at Los Angeles’ Staples Center on Saturday with the WBC world heavyweight title on the line.
Fury fights his most explosive opponent just 14 rounds into the comeback that follows an absence of over two-and-a-half years, and he also represents Wilder’s most difficult challenger.
Here, Press Association Sport revisits three of the fights that established each of the undefeated fighters among the world’s leading heavyweights.
Fury versus Wladimir Klitschko
Dusseldorf, November 2015
Fury versus Steve Cunningham
New York, April 2013
Fury versus John McDermott
Brentwood, September 2011
Wilder versus Luis Ortiz
New York, March 2018
Wilder versus Bermane Stiverne
Las Vegas, January 2015
Wilder versus Artur Szpilka
New York, January 2016
Firtha ?Stiverne ?Price ?Liakhovich ?Szpilka ?
Deontay Wilder’s top-five most devastating knockouts… ? #WilderFury pic.twitter.com/lLyjQYogAS
— Watch Wilder v Fury on BT Sport Box Office ? (@BTSportBoxing) November 25, 2018
Perhaps the fight that demonstrates the two ways in which Saturday’s is likeliest to go. Wilder struggled with the head movement and southpaw stance of Poland’s little-known Szpilka until finding a devastating knockout in the ninth round, and in front of Fury, who that night was ringside.
Both fighters are capable of using their experiences that night; Fury by observing where Szpilka succeeded, and Wilder through how he overcame his approach. Fury joining Wilder in the ring afterwards also did much to lay the foundations for Saturday’s fight.
