Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury 12/1/18 Boxing Odds, Preview and Prediction

The world will stand still as Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder and Tyson “Gypsy King” Fury collide on Saturday 12/1/18 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the right to be called the heavyweight champion of the world.

Sure, Anthony Joshua owns most of the alphabet belts, but at stake in this fight are the prestigious WBC green belt and the lineal heavyweight title which makes this fight the most important heavyweight boxing fight of the year. Of course, the winner should get a crack at AJ but even then, whoever wins this fight has better claim to the title of heavyweight champion and will be without doubt the people’s champion as well.

The Bronze Bomber

Deontay Wilder won the WBC Heavyweight title with a dominant 12 round unanimous decision win over Bermane Stiverne in 2015. Interestingly, that is the only bout in his 40-fight resume that has not ended in a knockout. Wilder has since defended the belt seven straight times, knocking out every challenger that has been put in front of him. His most recent fight, against Cuban Luis Ortiz, is considered a his biggest win to date. In that fight, Wilder was in trouble and nearly went out in Round 7 but he hung on and came back to knock out Ortiz in the 10th round.

At 6-7 and with an incredible reach of 83 inches, Wilder poses plenty of problems for opponents. Not only is he athletically gifted, he possesses a right hand that can kill a bull. Because of his other worldly punching power, opponents don’t dare slug it out with him and instead choose to box with him. But with his extremely long range, Wilder isn’t just able to set the distance with his reach but he is also able to figure out his opponents before going on an attack. However, Wilder isn’t a technically sound boxer and his defense is considered suspect, that is if someone is able to get close to him like Ortiz did. With Wilder seemingly unbeatable because of his size, perhaps his next opponent can challenge him because he has the height and size to compete with Wilder.

The Gypsy King

Wilder’s opponent is none other than Tyson Fury, the former unified heavyweight champion of the world. It can be recalled that it was Fury who ended Wladimir Klitschko’s long hold of the heavyweight division with a boring but technical unanimous decision win in 2015. But after beating Kiltschko, Fury never got to defend his belts as he was stripped of the title after testing positive for a banned substance. Fury went into depression and had his license revoked. He went out of the picture before returning to action early this year in an effort to reclaim his belts. Technically, Fury still has one title and that is as the lineal heavyweight champion.

Who Wins?

Fans and experts alike agree that if this is going to be a short night, it’s Wilder who will be victorious. If this goes the distance, Fury is going to take the green belt back to England. Clearly, Wilder has the punching power to end this fight at any second. Fury meanwhile has the skill set to frustrate Wilder in a 12 round war. But the question is can Fury go 12 rounds with a more athletic Wilder? Sure, we’ve seen the incredible  transformation of Fury’s body. But going 12 rounds with a punch monster is different. Just ask Luis Ortiz. As for Wilder, I don’t think his strategy is a secret. He only knows one way to fight and that is going forward.

Some say this will be a long fight because both fighters will spend the early rounds figuring each other out. For Fury, that should be the game plan: to weather Wilder’s early storm and take the fight to the judges scorecards. For Wilder, his best shot may be to swarm Fury early because he won’t want the Gypsy King to get into his boxing rhythm. I think Wilder goes for the kill as soon as the opening bell rings. The more this fight has no pattern and rhythm, the more it favors the Bronze Bomber.

Other Bets To Make

Hear this. Wilder has fought a total of 40 times, 39 have ended in a knockout. Only five of his fights have gone past round nine and that includes the decision win over Stiverne in 2015. The Bronze Bomber only has four knockouts past round 8. As for Tyson Fury, the Gypsy King has 19 knockouts in 27 fights. He’s only had two knockouts past round 8.

To summarize, these fighters have combined to fight 67 times. Only 9 times have their fights gone the distance and only a total of five knockouts have happened past round 8. That said, 50 out of their total combined 67 fights have ended round 8 or earlier. I think that’s a good percentage to bet on the under here.