Tyson Fury has offered his response to claims from Deontay Wilder that he “definitely cheated” in two of their three world heavyweight title clashes.
Fury and Wilder’s names will forever be associated with each other, with the pair sharing a ring three times between December 2018 and October 2021.
The first fight was Fury’s first world title bout in over three years after the self-proclaimed ‘Gypsy King’ struggled with issues in his personal life after dethroning then-unified world champion Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
Wilder retained his WBC heavyweight title with the pair boxing to a split decision draw, although Fury’s reputation was enhanced after he rose from the canvas in the final round to the disbelief of fans watching around the world.
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The second bout saw Fury put in a clinical performance, dominating Wilder from the off before winning by seventh-round TKO. The Englishman was crowned the WBC and The Ring heavyweight champion.
The third fight of the trilogy was equally, if not more, entertaining than the others, with both men sustaining knockdowns before Fury won by eleventh-round knockout.
Since then, Fury has defeated Derek Chisora, Dillian Whyte and Francis Ngannou before suffering consecutive defeats against Oleksandr Usyk.
Meanwhile, Wilder has never truly recovered from the trilogy, going on to lose a further two fights against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang.
The 40-year-old American is due to face veteran Chisora in London on April 4 and has been promoting the fight this week.
And during the build-up to the clash, he rather bizarrely claimed that Fury “cheated” in at least two of their three bouts.
Speaking to the Ring Magazine, Wilder said: “I’m telling you what I know. You’re only seeing what you saw — he didn’t win nothing, they gave it to him. I can’t think of our third fight, but in two of them, he definitely cheated. I’ve got proof and evidence of that. When I do my documentary and movie about it, it’s going to be presented. I’m going to bring the people, and the artifacts, I know.”
Wilder then suggested that Fury “can’t come back to America”, before he added: “The man cheated. He’s the biggest cheater in boxing history. If I’m lying, then please tell him to sue me for defamation of character so that I have the proof. I can’t wait.”
Fury has since responded to the claims and appeared relatively unfazed by the comments.
“In my last two fights, I didn’t get the results I was after,” Fury said.
“Oleksandr got the results over me, and fair play to him and his team and everybody around him.
“They were life lessons, in this life, you don’t always get what you want or what you think you did enough to get.
“But that’s where it stays.
“You don’t hear me crying and moaning about it, saying: ‘Oh my god, he cheated’.
“That’s not me, and there’s no point in crying over spilt milk.”
Fury is also set to return to the ring with the Brit scheduled to fight Arslanbek Makhmudov on April 11.
Topics: Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, Boxing, Heavyweight Boxing
Luke Davies