LAS VEGAS – It was wild. Wildly chaotic. Wildly sloppy. It careened from reckless to dangerous, from crazy to classic.
Wildly wonderful.
In the end, the wild victory belonged to Tyson Fury, who scored a knockdown in the third round, got up twice in the fourth, scored another knockdown in the tenth and finished exhausted Deontay Wilder in the eleventh.
The end, the closing blow, at 1:10 of the eleventh Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena was appropriate for a heavyweight title fight that included just about everything.
Amid the chaos, it was clean and crisp. It was a right hand that traveled through midair looking like an orbiting projectile.
It landed, ground zero, on the side of Wilder’s face. He was out. Unconscious, he fell along the ropes and onto the canvas, a wild man in name only.
For Wilder, there was some cruel irony that the end would come at the end of Fury’s right hand. The right was his defining weapon. It’s how he climbed to the top of the division. In the end, it his rival’s right that brought him down, toppled him and perhaps his career.
“I hope he goes down in history as a great fighter,’’ Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) said during an interview in the middle of the ring moments after the fourth. “I hope.’’
Fury won’t have to hope about his place in history.
“Like the great John Wayne said: Iron and steel, baby,’’ Fury said.
Wayne, iron and steel endure. So, too will the memory of this, Fury’s defining triumph.
“I have never seen a heavyweight fight like this,’’ said Fury co-promoter Bob Arum, who promoted the great Muhammad Ali. “Two tremendous warriors.’’
Fury might not be the most refined heavyweight. He’s not Ali. But he ranks as one of the smartest ever in the fabled division. At 6-foot-9 and jiggly, nobody would pick him out of a lineup as a world heavyweight champ. He doesn’t look the part.
Even against Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs), his midsection shook like Jello. But it shook because he was bouncing on his toes, resilient as ever after knockdowns that might have been the end of any other heavyweight.
At times, it looked as if it might be enough for Wilder to win the third fight in a turbulent trilogy with Fury. He hurt Fury in the fourth, knocking him down for the first time within those three minutes with the deadly punch.
But Fury got up, looking composed as he sat down on a stool with Wilder’s likeness emblazoned on top of it. Fury sat there, looking as though he knew he would eventually flush Wilder away in defeat.
He could see the doubt, then fatigue in Wilder’s eyes. With patience and then power, he would finish him. And he did.
“Don’t ever doubt me,’’ said Fury, who retained his lineal and World Boxing Council titles. “When the chips are down, I will always deliver.’’
There was no post-fight reaction from Wilder. He was taken to the emergency room at a Las Vegas hospital. There was no immediate word on his condition.
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Frank Sanchez wins unanimous decision
There was controversy. When is a knockdown really a knockdown? Who knows? There appeared to be no answer in a strange seventh round of a heavyweight bout between Frankie Sanchez and Efe Ajagba.
In the end, it didn’t matter. Sanchez made sure of it. He had all of the other answers. Foot speed and accuracy were enough for Sanchez (19-0, 13 KOs) to score a unanimous decision over Ajagba (15-1, 12 KOs) in the final fight before the third step in the Fury-Wilder trilogy.
In the seventh, a long right from Sanchez appeared to put Ajagba onto one knee. The Cuban heavyweight quickly followed with a left uppercut that put the Nigerian on his butt. But there was no count, no point reduction, no nothing from referee Mike Ortega.
It was as if it didn’t happen. Truth is, it had no impact on the result. There’s no doubt about Sanchez’ victory.
Helenius wins sixth-round TKO
There were low blows. There was confusion. In the end, there was only Robert Helenius.
Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs), a Swede who sparred with Deontay Wilder at his Alabama training camp for Saturday night’s third fight with Tyson Fury, emerged from it all with a victory over Polish heavyweight Adam Kownacki (20-2, 15 KOs). Officially, it was a TKO at 38 seconds of the sixth round. Initially, it looked to be a disqualification of Kownacki for throwing a low blow.
A low blow from Kownacki in the third sent Helenius to the canvas in evident pain. Helenius had been dominating most of the fight, which started with him landing a big right onto Kownacki’s left eye. By the third round, it looked as if the eye was swollen shut.
Jared Anderson rolls on, scoring second-round TKO
He is being hyped as the heavyweight of the future. That future got a little closer Saturday night in the first fight on an all heavyweight pay-per-view card featuring Fury-Wilder.
Jared Anderson (10-0, 10 KOs), of Toledo OH, rocked and rolled all over Russian Vladimir Tereshkin (22-1-1, 12 KOs), leaving him dazed, defenseless and defeated within just two rounds.
Anderson fired a succession of punches, a blend of power and speed, all while moving forward. Tereshkin never had a chance. Referee Kenny Bayless ended it, a TKO, with the Russian standing motionless and helpless at 2:51 of the second round.
Berlanga survives knockdown, wins decision.
Edgar Berlanga‘s apparent ride to a world title suddenly took a couple of unexpected turns. Both took him to places he’s never been. Never heard.
First, there was the canvas. He was knocked flat on his back.
Then, there were boos.
In the end, Berlanga escaped with his unbeaten record (18-0, 16 KOs) intact. He won a decision, unanimous on the cards but not so unanimous in a crowd gathering for the Fury-Wilder heavyweight collision. He beat a tireless Argentine, Marcelo Coceres (30-3-1, 16 KOs), whose ceaseless movement confused him throughout 10 rounds. Then, there was Cocere’s right hand. That nearly stopped him.
The right put Berlanga down in the ninth of 10 rounds. He got up, surprised and perhaps embarrassed. But he was never able to really elude the right or catch Cocere’s with a clean shot of feared power. But he did enough, at least in the judges’ eye’s. All three scored it 96-93
Julian Williams loses split decision
Julian Williams started fast. Faded late.
In the end, he fell, losing a split decision to bloodied, yet resilient Vladimir Hernandez in a junior-middleweight bout, the fourth fight on the card featuring Fury-Wilder.
Williams (27-3-1, 16 KOs) , a former 154-pound champion, was in control early. He cut Hernandez (13-4, 6 KOs)badly. Blood streamed from a nasty wound at one corner of Hernandez’ eye. The Mexican looked beaten. But he wasn’t. He began rocking Williams with precise shots midway through the 10-rounder. At times in the final two rounds, Williams looked exhausted. Hernandez saw the fatigue. So did a small crowd. So, too did, two of the judges. On two cards, it was 96-94 and 97-93 for Hernandez. On the third, it was 96-94 for Williams.
Robeisy Ramirez wins a yawner
It was a unanimous decision. A unanimous bore, too.
Featherweight Robeisy Ramirez (8-1, 4 KOs) put on a performance that made Guillermo Ringondeaux look exciting. Still, it was enough for a 99-91, 97-93, 99-91 decision over Olrando Gonzalez (17-1, 10 KOs on the Fury-Wilder undercard..
Ramirez is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, including a victory over Shakur Stevenson in the gold-medal bout at the 2016 Rio Games. He must have put Stevenson to sleep with his slick, no-risk tactics. No wonder nobody watches Olympic boxing any more.
Featherweight prospect scores shutout in debut
Bruce Carrington, a potential featherweight prospect from Brooklyn, scored a shutout in his debut.
He won, beating Cesar Cantu (3-2, 1 KO) in a professional introduction that was a unanimous success on the scorecards and to the handful of fans seated at T-Mobile a few hours before the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder heavyweight title fight. He won, 40-36, on all three cards.
Carrington’s combination of power and hand-speed repeatedly rocked Cantu, a tough Texas who somehow stayed on his feet throughout the four rounds.
First Bell: Heavyweight Viktor Faust wins third-round TKO
LAS VEGAS — It started early. It ended early.
A heavyweight card featuring Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder began with a heavyweight matinee
Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
Unbeaten Ukrainian Viktor Faust (8-0, 6 KOs) flashed his power quickly, knocking Mike Marshall (6-2-1, 4 KOs) off balance and forcing him to slip in the second round of a scheduled eight. A round later, Faust finished the job, scoring a crushing knockdown of Marshall, of Danbury, CT, down. Marshall was dazed and done, a TKO loser at 1:49 of the third.
