So let me get this straight…instead of receiving untold millions of dollars in step-aside money for doing nothing and eventually getting a crack at the Fury-Joshua winner for all the marbles, Wilder elects to take a third fight against the man who destroyed him in every way possible last time out for one belt? Wilder is either insane, dumb, or outright delusional. Hopefully, Fury will put a thumping on Wilder again (which he will) and then get in the ring with Joshua sooner than later.

The Scarecrow vs The Lummox

Wilder has no chance to beat Fury. I have so little respect for Fury’s boxing ability that I once thought that he would be blown away if he ever was foolish enough to step into the ring with Wilder. After all, Wilder appeared like a world beater by knocking out overmatched stiffs. He appeared to be ferocious, well-conditioned, self-motivated, with real malice behind his shots.

But as I watched Wilder fight back then, what struck me was how skinny his legs were. He wasn’t willing to do the proper level of road work to build up his legs, which is where real power is generated from. He reminded me of a scarecrow. The “Black Scarecrow” is what I called him. His power shots were entirely arm punches. He’s an arm puncher. I wasn’t impressed with his boxing skills. He had limited ability to box. He was tall, rangy, awkward. He needed room to punch. He towered over his opponents, giving him a distinct advantage, similar to the advantage Fury enjoys. Fury is the big Lummox.

I was a bit surprised that Scarecrow could only muster a draw in that first matchup with Lummox. Lummox allegedly was not quite finished getting back into fighting shape after ballooning to 400 lbs, and overcoming drug and emotional problems. He looked quite pathetic in the ring, worse than usual, yet Scarecrow could only manage a draw after knocking Lummox down. The powers that be don’t want Scarecrow to beat Lummox, since Lummox is much more popular from a marketing standpoint. Being an arm-puncher, Scarecrow couldn’t convincingly beat a diminished, more mediocre than usual, overweight, under conditioned Lummox, and he needed to be convincing to beat Lummox on decision. Lummox is favored, so he had to knock him out to win. He couldn’t do it.

The result of the second fight was no surprise. Lummox had a 62 pound weight advantage against the bird-legged Scarecrow in that second fight. No way Scarecrow was going to get the knockout he needed being an arm-puncher against an opponent with that weight advantage. He doesn’t have the boxing skills to set up his shots properly, so the question was whether he could take Lummox’s punch. He couldn’t. The Scarecrow was hyped as the hardest puncher in heavyweight history. So pathetic.

The Scarecrow simply doesn’t have the skills it takes to beat the tall, heavy, mediocre Lummox. With those spindly legs, the Scarecrow can’t generate enough power to knock that big Lummox out. Because he can’t box, he doesn’t have the ability to outbox Lummox. Because he’s not smart, he doesn’t know how to set up shots, so he can hit Lummox with punches Lummox doesn’t see or anticipate, like Ray Robinson did in knocking Rocky Graziano senseless with that power shot. Because he doesn’t properly train, doesn’t do an adequate enough level of roadwork to build his legs and endurance, he doesn’t have the power and endurance to put pressure on Lummox, like Duran did against Leonard in that first fight. This third fight will by hyped, but both these fighters have been inactive. Both are rusty. Both are mediocre fighters. Both rely on hype for credibility.

Unfortunately for the Scarecrow however, a motivated Scarecrow cannot beat a motivated Lummox.