Tyson Fury will defend his WBC heavyweight boxing crown when he faces Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas for the third — and probably final — instalment of their three-year ring rivalry.

The two heavyweights fought to a bruising draw in their first fight in Los Angeles in 2018, when Fury overcame a crushing 12th round knockdown after outboxing Wilder for much of the contest.

Fury (30-0-1, 21 KO) then defeated Wilder in February last year via a seventh-round knockout that ended Wilder’s five-year reign as WBC champion.

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Neither man has fought since that fight 20 months ago, and Fury was forced to move on from a highly-anticipated bout with former WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua after an independent arbitrator in May ruled that Wilder was instead entitled to a rematch for a third fight.

An outbreak of Covid-19 in Fury’s camp, which affected the British champion and several members of his entourage, forced the fight to be delayed further from July to October.

Wilder was full of excuses for why he lost the second fight, from glove-tampering to having his water spiked from his former trainer.

Now the pressure is on for him to prove he is a different fighter and take down Fury.

“It means everything,” Wilder said as he arrived at the arena. “It means all I’ve been training for, everything I’ve been preparing for the last 20 months. The sacrifices, the dedication, the heartaches and pain — somebody gotta pay for this. It wasn’t free.”

COACH MYSTERY SOLVED

Tyson Fury is confident he will defeat Deontay Wilder in a repeat of his victory from February last year but there will be a key difference this time around.

Coverage will begin at 12pm (AEDT) but missing from Fury’s corner will be assistant coach Andy Lee, who announced on Twitter that he had run into visa problems.

It came after a number of eagle-eyed boxing fans noticed his absence, raising questions.

Lee was part of a new team Fury put together ahead of his February 2020 fight with Wilder, including the appointment of head trainer SugarHill Steward.

Unable to travel to Las Vegas, Lee was instead working as a commentator for DAZN during the Liam Smith vs Anthony Fowler event in Liverpool.

It was far from the only drama, with Wilder raising concerns over his gloves prior to their trilogy fight on Sunday morning.

Wilder has been vocal in accusing Fury of tampering with his gloves when he defeated him in their second fight last year.

The Gypsy King though has always refuted that claim and taken aim at both Wilder and his trainer in the lead-up to Sunday’s bout.

Keep tapping to follow all updates in the LIVE blog below!

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‘NOT BUYING IT’

Tyson Fury stood on the scales at 277 pounds on Saturday; four pounds heavier than he was when he knocked Deontay Wilder out in the sequel.

But not everyone believes he’ll be actually stepping in the ring on Sunday that heavy.

“You can’t take anything from Tyson Fury’s weigh-in there,” David Haye said on BTSport.

“He had his trainers, hat, his trackies, he could’ve had money in his pocket. His wallet, phone, you don’t know what he’s got in his pocket.

“It’s manipulation. He said he wanted to come in at 300lbs, that’s what he said. He’s turned up and he’s heavy.”

Steve Bunce agreed.

“I’m not buying Tyson Fury’s weight,” said Bunce. “He had his trainers on. [And] as David said, a really expensive-looking hat. He had on his full kit, he obviously had his phone or something in his pocket.

“It says 19st 11lbs (277lbs), but I think he was probably closer to about 19st 3/4 or 5lbs (271lbs). That means he’s had a bit of a meal this afternoon or this morning, because he looked good. He looked good.

“According to those weights, this is the least amount of weight advantage that Tyson Fury has had now in the three fights.

“The first fight, he was 44lbs heavier, the second fight he was 42lbs heavier and I calculate he’s 39lbs heavier this time.

“But, he’s not. If you take 9lbs of that away, that means they’re down to within two stone (28lbs) of each other.”

On the other hand, Wilder also came in the heaviest he’s ever been at 238 lbs, and fellow heavyweight Otto Wallin believes it’s a mistake.

“I think Wilder’s weight gain is interesting,” Wallin said. “He obviously already has enough power at a lower weight but I think he feels like he needs the extra weight to be able to wrestle Fury on the inside. I think it’s gonna be worse for Wilder to lose speed than for Fury.”

GLOVES DRAMA

Now a fresh drama has emerged, with Wilder complaining about the horse hair used as padding inside Fury’s gloves.

Wilder was certain it did not provide enough padding, although the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NASC) confirmed his gloves were permitted for use.

That was after NASC cut one glove open to check the padding.

“We had a little situation with the gloves,” Wilder told 78SportsTV.

“I already got word of some funny stuff going on in the back of the gloves.

“When I got into the room I immediately asked about the gloves and was telling them about certain things that happened in the first event with his gloves being funny, how they were bending and folding, even showing certain clips of it.

“They [NASC officials] said they’ve been around boxing 25, 30 years, everybody feels since they’ve been around it they are some type of expert.

“But if you haven’t put a glove on and hit someone in the face to understand what type of amage it could do, or how mechanically a glove can work, it’s 25, 30 years down the toilet.

“You can cut open a glove all day and look inside and still not know what’s going on.”

READ MORE >

Watch Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury III live on Main Event available on Foxtel and Kayo, Sunday 10th October from 12pm AEDT. ORDER NOW >

‘ROLL OF THE DICE’: Why Wilder gamble could lead to a ‘total annihilation’

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PPV CARD

Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder — WBC heavyweight championship

Frank Sanchez vs. Efe Ajagba — heavyweight

Robert Helenius def. Adam Kownacki — via 6th round disqualification — heavyweight

Jared Anderson def. Vladimir Tereshkin — via 2nd round TKO — heavyweight

HOW TO WATCH

Watch Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury III live on Main Event available on Foxtel and Kayo, Sunday 10th October from 12pm AEDT.ORDER NOW >

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