Brian Custer reflects on Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury I
Back in December of 2018, heavyweights Deontay Wilder (42-1-1, 41KOs) and Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 23KOs) gave the fans in attendance at the Staples Center in Los Angels, California a memorable night.
A clear underdog, Fury came out and boxed tremendously, often offsetting and confusing the then-champion for majority of the fight. However, the “Bronze Bomber” would have his moments, as he would drop the “Gypsy King” twice, with the latter knockdown coming in the most crucial moment of the fight; the twelfth and final round.
Since then the two have rematched with Fury clearly getting the better of Wilder, stopping him in seven rounds of their February 2020 rematch.
A man that was in attendance that night, Brian Custer, who’s the host of Showtime Championship Boxing and the Last Stand podcast, reflected back on the initial encounter between the two men.
HOW DID HE FEEL ABOUT THE DECISION?
“Yeah it was one of those fights. I came out of it like you know what, hey I could see a draw. I mean I thought Fury did a lot of good things in that first fight. But Deontay dropped him twice and obviously that last knockdown had a big impact on the judges.
“Hey listen there’s a number of people who say if you’re the champ, you have to knock him out. I couldn’t really argue too much about the draw.”
ON WILDER’S PERFORMANCE
“I thought Deontay looked like a guy who was on his first pay-per-view fight. You could tell that he pressed and wanted to really go for the knockout early to make a statement because he was on pay-per-view for the first time. It was almost like he wanted to show people like ‘I deserve to be on pay-per-view,’ and he pressed too much and got out of what made him the devastating heavyweight that he was.
“So that’s what my thoughts were on the first one.”
I think many people would agree with Custer’s assessment, along with the fact that Fury was able to neutralize and nullify the power of Wilder well enough to get a draw. Although, many felt he was robbed of victory.
By: Jerrell Fletcher
