Wilder vs Fury: Conor McGregor sends message to Tyson Fury ahead of Deontay Wilder fight
TYSON FURY has been sent a good luck message from former UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Fury will lock horns with Deontay Wilder for the WBC heavyweight title.
The bout will be Fury’s third since he shocked the world three years ago and beat Wladimir Klitschko to become the unified WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, Ring magazine and lineal heavyweight champion.
Fury’s showdown with the undefeated Wilder - who has knocked out all 39 of his professional opponents - comes in his second fight since his June bout with Sefer Seferi, who was his first opponent in over two-and-a-half years.
The 29-year-old’s chances of dethroning Wilder have been written off by many, who believe the American is too big an obstacle for him to overcome at this moment in time.
Fury may not be being backed by many to hand Wilder his first loss, but he does have the support of ‘The Notorious’.
“The McGregors faced punishment by death,” McGregor wrote in response to a MacLife video in which Fury said he didn’t want his fight with Wilder to be about race. “Not a race, but a clan.
“Good luck Tyson, I am rooting for you.”
Should Fury beat Wilder, he’ll set up a multi-million-pound unification bout with WBA Super, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, provided there’s no rematch clause in his contract.
Good luck Tyson, I am rooting for you
Joshua doesn’t foresee Fury ending Wilder’s reign as WBC king, telling William Hill: “Definitely Wilder.
“I’m saying Wilder because - I was thinking about it earlier today: [When] I fought Klitschko, he had 16 to 17 months off.
“Because Fury got injured and he had to pull out of his fight. So he had a long period off. “He said it done (sic) him well because he was training in-between, he had revitalised his body.
“He’s been doing it for so long. He took himself out of the box, freshened up, he trained - so he kept his body active. And then he had a fight with me.
“But due to the fight I was probably active while he was waiting to fight Fury, I managed to get the stoppage in the eleventh round. So that activeness plays a big part in boxing.
“So then you’ve got Fury who’s had a long layoff, wasn’t training, done the opposite and now he’s going to fight a championship fighter.
“The proofs in the pudding. And history only teaches us that it’ll repeat itself.
“So I think that Fury will lose, Wilder will win. And provided there’s no rematch contract, there would be no reason for us (not to fight in 2019).”
Why does Deontay Wilder wear a mask?
Wilder, commonly known as The Bronze Bomber, claims that his alias is more an alter ego.
The American transforms into The Bronze Bomber each fight, which helps him conduct the savagery he promises his opponents.
“There's no hiding behind this mask,” Wilder said after Friday’s press conference.
“It has an energy about it that I feed off of. Putting the mask on is like a blocker, I zone in. Most definitely it's a strange feeling. The mask is everything for me.”
Masquerading as another character is so helpful for Wilder, that he wears his mask during his walk-on, too.
“That's why I wear it to the ring every fight. I feed off it's energy until that bell rings. The rest is history,” he continued.
“When my mind transforms it is a scary feeling because it is a source of power that takes over.
“If I say I want to kill a man, people have a problem with it, but it's not the first time that has been said and it won't be the last and it definitely isn't the worst thing that has been said.”