Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder: ‘they denied me the greatest comeback in boxing history’, Briton tells morning TV in UK
- The unbeaten heavyweight says he should have been awarded victory
- Gypsy King felt ‘catastrophic’ when the announcement was made it was a draw
British heavyweight Tyson Fury has opened up on his controversial split decision against American Deontay Wilder saying he was denied the greatest comeback in boxing history.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain a day after he miraculously rose twice from the canvas before the thrilling 12-round fight ended in a draw that drew criticism, the 30-year-old Gypsy King said he should have been given victory. The three judges were divided on the outcome, with one scoring it 115-111 for Wilder, another 114-112 for Fury and the third 113-113.
“Everybody knows that I have won but history will look back at this and say it was a draw because nobody will remember the controversy after a while,” said Fury, who remains the lineal heavyweight champion. “History will then deny me the greatest comeback in boxing history. I’m not going to be bitter about it. I’m disappointed.
“I worked really hard. I did my best. I should have been rewarded with the decision. We should have taken the WBC title back to Britain but unfortunately it stays in America. I don’t want to cause a stigma and cause a scene about it. It was what it was.
“I just want to make sure that this doesn’t happen again because not everybody is going to be mentally strong as me and it could cause people to walk away from the sport. You never know what the future holds for people. It has happened to me, it happened to Lennox [Lewis], it has happened to so many great fighters in the past.”
Lewis had tweeted a day earlier saying that the draw reminded him of his first fight with Evander Holyfield in March 1999.
“This #WilderFury judging takes me back to my first fight with @holyfield Just goes to show how hard it is for a Brit to come to America and take someone’s belt even tho that’s what we clearly saw. Big up to @Tyson_Fury who never ceases to amaze me. Hold ur head high!” tweeted the former heavyweight champion Lewis.
Fury said he felt “absolutely devastated” when the announcement was made that the contest ended in a draw, saying he didn’t have words to describe his feeling.
“The feeling was catastrophic. When they said a draw I could not believe what I was hearing. I tried to calm my brothers down and calm everybody down because the last thing I wanted was a massive brawl going on in the crowd or a riot, which could have happened if I didn’t calm the situation down, which would have given boxing a bad reputation and my country a bad reputation because travelling British fans don’t have the best reputation anyway. We didn’t want a riot on our hands.”
However, Fury understood what he was up against with his father, John, warning him before the fight that the odds were stacked against him fighting at Staples Centre in Los Angeles.
“My dad said to me that ‘you’re going away country, you’re going to face the home favourite and you’re not going to get any favours one here, son.’ But I wasn’t looking for favours. All I was asking was for fair treatment.
“When you know that you have worked hard and climbed off the canvas twice and battled back, I thought I definitely won. “The only two rounds I lost were round nine and round 12. I still won eight [rounds] to four.
Asked if he would consider a rematch against the Bronze Bomber in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, Fury smiled.
“That would be fantastic. But I got a funny feeling that he [Wilder] will get his running shoes out and will be staying away from me at all costs.”
