Photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (28-0-1, 20 KOs) and Otto Wallin (20-0, 13 KOs) faced off at the final press conference prior to their ESPN+ showdown this Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Tyson Fury: What people don’t know is I wasn’t supposed to box on this weekend. I was supposed to box in New York in early to mid-October. When we heard Canelo Alvarez wasn’t going to be fighting on Mexican Independence Weekend, I thought ‘damn, what a shock,’ because this has been a special weekend for many, many events in Las Vegas every year for boxing. So I thought the Mexican people weren’t going to have a main attraction or main event, I need to step in. I brought my fight date ahead four weeks, just so you could see “el Rey Gitano” and so the Mexican people can have a main event, a massive superstar fighter boxing on this weekend.”
Otto Wallin: “I’m well-schooled. I’ve got a good background. I’ve got good offense, good defense and I think I have what it takes to cause an upset.”
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At least Fury gets a belt for his efforts.
Fury, the Great hero of all Mexican boxing fans. Lol
Btw this fight, like most espn+, dazn, etc.. boxing shows should be on regular cable. Free
Thanks Tyson, you saved us, what would we do without a clown fighting a heavy bag on Sept. 16. and you want us to pay for it, what a circus!!
Art carbajal, well said thankyou
I used to think Fury was a joke, but I’m actually beginning to believe he is the best hwt out there. With a personality to boot. He I.M.O easily boxed the ears off Wilder, and he did lift the title from Wlad Klitschko. Then he went bonkers and disappeared, all of a sudden he is the focus of the hwt division. Personally i think he beats all of the hwts on the same night. This fight here is just to keep busy and he might stop this guy in the 8th or 9th just to show everyone that WHALING on Wallin was not an easy matter.
WTF, first off, Fury did not box the ears off wilder. You dont get knocked down (one time almost killed) boxing the ears off someone. GTFOH! second, the guy took the belt from an end of his career fighter, and never even defended his title. Instead, popped on drug test for performance enhancement drugs and then cocaine. He relinquished his belts. What is there to like about the guy? That he got a pass on the drug test fail? Because he cried about mental illness only after popping on the test? GTFOH
Al, perhaps winning 8-9 rounds might not be enough for you, however making Wilder look like a rank amateur is for me. And funny how some are mentioning that Fury was down twice, but do not mention he got up and proceeded to give Wilder a boxing lesson. The fact that someone goes down is not really an issue if he gets up, and he most certainly did. Also I suggest you run a search how many fighters, fans had Fury winning the fight, it was more than Wilder had, apparently others saw Wilder being made to look like a RANK AMATEUR, certainly he can hit, but apparently not hard enough to stop Fury.
@Steve: I saw Fury winning 10 rounds, and losing 2. Although he should have won on points, I think the draw was still ok, because at least one of the knock downs was so serious that most other heavyweights would not have gotten up.
I think Fury is one of the most misunderstood boxers: he certainly had some mental problems (which has nothing to do with his personality – its just a diseased condition that he has well taken care off in the past few years), but he is also highly intelligent. People with these type of personalities are always misunderstood by the masses. Nothing new and nothing surprising.
In my opinion, Fury is in the best position of all heavyweights to become the undisputed #1. Wilder will not learn how to box anymore, and he will always have to rely 100% on his power and natural athleticism. AJ will most likely continue to have stamina issues throughout his career. Ruiz hasn’t been in heavy wars yet, but I can’t see him beat Fury. I think it would be a shame if the world would ever have to see an undisputed heavyweight who is overweight.
Like him or not, Fury is the best of the lot.
Stonefree, absolutely agree, and I might add I do not see anyone with his boxing skills.
Am, in heavyweight division.. Anyone can floor anyone.. Any time. Fury boxing his ears off most CERTAINLY HAPPENED! A knockdown doesnt negate 10+ rounds of schooling.. Not in this world or any other.
Fury is a joke. The greats run close fights back: Mayweather had close fight with Castillo – ran it right back. Ward had a close fight with Kovalev – Ran it right back. As did so many other great champs. Fury got the right completion for the connection to run from real challenges and still get top billing. Fury fans are diluted and should be disappointed. Most just got excuses for Fury. No question Fury has skills, but he knows he’s not the top guy.
NJ: Fury is everything but a joke. He’s the technically most sound active heavyweight on the planet. He may clown around a lot, but he can clearly fight. He hasn’t lost a fight yet and he has faced some pretty stiff competition. I am quite certain that not a single boxer in the world would call him a joke. He’s an outstanding boxer, and could well be the best heavyweight on the planet at this moment.
@NJ BOXING, RIGHT.. because Wilder was all for a rematch that not only he looked stupid in but Fury got right up from his Sunday punch. I dont think you’re blaming the right person(s) here.
You do know the goal in boxing is to hit your opponent and not get hit, and especially don’t get knocked down or knocked out, right? Well, Fury got hit a lot by Wilder in that fight, and he went down 2 times HARD!!!!
Every boxer gets hit, even the best ones in history. But in comparison with other heavyweights, Fury still has the best defense.
Similarly, practically every boxer will go down sooner or later, but not everyone can get up, especially after having been hit hard by Wilder. Wilder was hit far more often than the other way around, but Wilder’s two knock down punches were the two best punches of the fight.
In other words, Fury controlled over 90% of the fight, but got caught twice. Most people would give the win to the fighter who controlled the fight.
I think the draw is favoring Fury for his future fight against Wilder, because he has a much higher boxing IQ than Wilder and he will be able to adjust. Its very unlikely that Wilder improve anymore. All he has shown so far is that he can bang hard with wild shots. If Fury times him well, he could knock out Wilder. Wilder, on the other hand, has to get lucky to hit Fury hard.
I think that Fury’s power is underestimated because he fights very defensive and clowns around a lot. I have no doubt that he has enough power to potentially or factually knock out every single top tier heavyweight.
We can all argue all day long but time will tell who is who is who in the division. I for one feel that Fury may well come out on top.
Stone, I will not argue what you say, because is real, even we can add that Fury staggered Wilder after he got up from the last knockdown, so, is absolutely possible Fury could win by KO. That Fury is the most skilled HW, maybe, but I think I would better wait to see how Usyk is going to be as a HW. Now, here is a question……what you would say if Wilder land on Fury the same shot he did to Brezeale and end the fight in the first or second round?
@Mike: For me, the Breazeale knock out by Wilder was in the Mike Tyson category.
I don’t think anyone (incl. Fury) could beat the count after such a punch :))
Usyk: he could be the biggest game changer aside of Ruiz in the division, but we still have to see how he performs against the big guys. What I really like about Usyk is that he is technically sound. I am very impressed by what I saw from him so far.
Argyle302, What you omit however is that wilder got hit much more… And looked goofy missing and being schooled. Sure Fury went down.. Once on what could be a glancing blow.. The second time hard.. As you said.. However who not only got up but arguably won the rest of the round?!?!? Fury made wilder look STUPID… Plain and simple.
Sad to see boxing relegated to streaming services while mainstream sports, even golf. continue to get major network coverage and support. Unfortunately, even the Fox Network/PBC bouts have become utter garbage and an insult to the viewers.
Is Fury going to “Wall him In”!? ha ha Well, he “Otto”! : )
Wilder is very crude and unpolished when publically speaking. There is nothing very likeable about him. He also has sledgehammers attached to his wrists. He JUST DOES.
Stiverne took Wilder 12 rounds in their first fight and then proceeded to get bitch-slapped to sleep in the first round of their re-match. The same “figuring-out” will happen with Ortiz. With Fury.
You Brit’s want so bad to produce some kind of Marquee relevance.
Your savior got his punk-ass handed to him by a squat, flabby Mexican AMERICAN. He shredded your Messiah.
I seem to recall something similar when we sent your loud, “proper” mouths kicking rocks during the revolution.
Stick to tea and crumpet’s and Wimbley Stadium. Nothing here for you but bad news.
Another idiot who has no idea of boxing, just wants to bad mouth UK.
David, even you can’t deny the Brits are in a golden age right now. Sure, AJ got his ass handed to him, but would you say he’s not a legit top 5 fighter after 1 loss? What about Fury? And despite his recent positive test Dillian Whyte was actually fighting and beating other contenders…actually deserving his ranking. Add in hot prospects Dubois and Joyce and you’ve got a near monopoly and that’s just at Heavyweight. What will you say if AJ defeats Ruiz? (Note: I do favor Ruiz, but wouldn’t put a dime on it.)
I should note that I’m American, but also and in this case more importantly a HUGE Boxing fan.
A warm up fight for Fury until he bashes up Wilder AGAIN!!
Another ridiculous bout to pad Furys record. Wallin is at least a couple of levels below Fury.