At yesterday’s weigh-in prior to tonight’s title fight between reigning and defending WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and former unified heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, the challenger tipped the scales a whopping 273 lbs., 16½ pounds heavier than during their fight 14 months ago.

 

Fury says he put on more weight because he intends to knock out Wilder and the extra pounds will facilitate it. But it will also slow him down and Fury’s speed, along with his accuracy, is one of his advantages going into the fight.

 

At 6-feet-9-inches, Fury, who weighed 256½ pounds for their initial meeting, can redistribute the extra weight across his sprawling frame. But Wilder also came in heavier than expected, a career-high 231 pounds, all of it muscle, which will theoretically add power to boxing’s preeminent knockout artist’s explosive right hand.

 

Regarding Fury’s weight gain, Wilder told ESPN, “I’m not worried about that. I’ve always had to fight bigger guys, bigger than I. You know, that’s just only gonna slow him down. And [him] holding the weight on me, I’m gonna rock with it, swing with it, rock with it. So, let him bring it on. You know, I’m not worried about his weight. All I’m telling him—don’t blink.”

 

Fury is unconcerned about the extra weight. That’s just part of the master plan.

 

“I’ve been holding that weight the last two months in training camp,” he told FOX. “I’ve been sparring every day with it, training every day, so the weight’s not a problem. Two-hundred, seventy-three pounds of pure British beef.”

 

Even if the beef is as pure as his intentions, Fury’s hamming it up might not help when it comes to defeating Deontay Wilder.

 

“I mean, at the end of the day, we’re heavyweights, so it really doesn’t matter about the weight,” Wilder said. “As you can see, throughout my whole career I’ve been underweight. I probably out-weighed my opponent maybe four times in my career. So, I really don’t care about weight. It just indicate that I’m in a better state and a better mind than the last time. And I’ve come for the pain.”

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Brits up in arms over NSAC judges

 

The back-and-forth continues and will continue after tonight’s fight in Las Vegas and beyond. The challenger, “The Gypsy King” Tyson Fury, has the British Isles behind him. In America, everyone is rooting for the WBC champion, Tuscaloosa’s own Deontay Wilder. All sides hope for a level playing field. But the three judges overseeing the bout, Glenn Feldman, Dave Moretti and Steve Weisfeld, are all American and each is part of the system. The British are disinclined to trust the system these days, no less when it comes to boxing, and British fight fans are up in arms at the NSAC’s selection.

 

One of them wrote, “Fury will not get a decision in America against Wilder no fucking way!”

 

Another cleaned up his language before tweeting, “It’s not in their interest to give a Brit the belt. Boxing politics will not allow it. He has to go for a KO. Straight facts.”

 

“@Tyson_Fury to do the business tonight,” one fan wrote. “Part of me says outbox Wilder and not try chase the KO but the judges are all American and we all know how they judge their own more often than not.”

 

That got everyone going.

 

“Another Robbery in the making!”

 

“That’s Fury on points out the window then.”

 

“Hope they don’t cheat Tyson like the last lot.”

 

Winning won’t be easy. It seldom is.