The victor in the trilogy fight between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury 30-0-1 (21) and Deontay Wilder 42-1-1 (41) will be determined by the boxer with the strong mentality.
That’s the word from junior welterweight and boxing analyst Chris Algieri.
Fury and Wilder will meet at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 9. Their first fight in Los Angeles in December 2018 ended in a controversial split draw. The rematch in Las Vegas last February was won by Fury by seventh-round knockout.
“It’s going to come down to psychology, it’s going to come down to mindset,” Algieri said to Pro Boxing Fans.
“Both of these guys have the skillset to beat each other. We’ve seen that, even though the first one was a draw. Wilder has the power. Wilder’s power can knock out anybody in the world.
“He just has to land that shot and we saw in the rematch Tyson beat him pillar to post. He had his number through and through.
“So where are we looking at this fight in terms of a psychological standpoint? Who is going to have that edge going in here? It seems like it’s going to be Tyson Fury.
“He’s brimming with confidence, he’s coming off of the win, but then I heard some stuff about him in his last camp. So there are some questions there as well.
“In terms of technical superiority, that’s really hard to deal with when you’re talking about a guy like Tyson Fury. He’s so awkward in terms of head movement and he’s erratic.
“It’s not just him being erratic physically; he’s erratic up here [in the head] too. You don’t know what’s going to show up. It’s tough to say, ‘Jab the body, that’s going to be the move.’ It could be.”
The 33-year-old Fury was expected to face fellow Brit and WBC, WBO and IBF champion Anthony Joshua 24-1 (22) in a rare four-bet unification bout in the northern summer.
But at the 11th hour an independent arbitrator ruled that Fury was contractually obliged to give 35-year-old American Wilder a third fight.
Joshua will face Oleksandr Usyk in England this weekend.
The danger now is that a loss to Wilder could prevent that much-hyped fight from happening.
“Wilder is dangerous for every second of every round. I don’t like this fight for Tyson Fury because I really want the Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury fight,” Algieri said. “I don’t like the fact that they’re fighting again.
“I didn’t think it was exactly necessary after the last one, but Wilder is dangerous. He can literally knock out anybody with one punch at any time, Tyson Fury included.
“So, a loss here for Fury and we don’t see Joshua-Fury, and I want to see that fight. That’s personally what I want.”
