GIVEN he has previously said he would like to add a “body” to his record, it should come as no surprise to hear WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder says he wants to “pop open” the cut Tyson Fury suffered last Saturday (September 21) in Las Vegas when the time comes for them to renew acquaintances in 2020.
Fury was cut twice during a hard-than-expected fight against Otto Wallin at the T-Mobile Arena and required 48 stitches to seal one beside the eye and one on the eyelid. The procedure went well, by all accounts, yet Wilder, held to a draw by Fury last December, considers the damage done to Fury by Wallin to be another sign of the Englishman’s vulnerability.
“When you’ve been in there with a person before, you see a lot of things,” Wilder told Tha Boxing Voice.
“He signed the contract (to fight Wilder in February). That’s his problem. He better get ready. No matter what he does, when he fights me, it’s (the cut) going to open right back up.
“I’m going to pop it right back open. He can get plastic surgery, duct tape or staples, super glue or hot glue, cement glue. S***, he can go get some of that flex glue. It ain’t even going to matter.
“He’s very vulnerable. When he gets hit on the chin, it’s a wrap.”
In the 12 rounds they shared in Brooklyn last year, Wilder whacked Fury a couple of times on the chin. Once in the ninth round and again in the twelfth. Both times Fury hit the deck with an almighty thud, but both times Fury got up. It’s a wrap? If it only it were that easy.
For a moment it seemed boxing’s new Golden Boy was upset with the old Golden Boy and that nothing was looking golden anymore.
But now Ryan Garcia, one of the boxing’s brightest prospects, has ended his brief dispute with promoters Golden Boy to sign what he describes as “one of the most lucrative deals for a prospect in the history of the sport”.
Last weekend, Garcia, 21, ruffled feathers when turning down Romero Duno and Petr Petrov as late replacements for opponent Avery Sparrow, who was arrested just before the fight. He then took to calling out Golden Boy for putting him in an awkward position.
“I didn’t want to fight anyone else. I didn’t want to fight Petr Petrov. I didn’t want to fight any of the names they were mentioning because I know what I came here for,” Garcia, 18-0 (15), had said via conference call.
“I came here to get my respect and I knew I was going to get it if I beat Avery and I’m not going to get it beating Petr. The only way I was going to get it after those statements were made online was to fight Duno. But I’m also not going to let myself be taken advantage (of) and set up in a way where I’m cornered and have to do whatever they say and have to fight Duno for the amount they always wanted me to.
“I said to myself, ‘This is my chance to stand my ground and get my respect no matter what.’ I’ve done this countless time before. I ask for what I want, and they just say ‘no’ and at the last minute I just say, ‘Okay, let’s go.’ I just do it. I fight and I win and it’s spectacular but this time I said to myself, ‘Nah, not again. I’m not going to keep on letting myself be used like that. It’s their mistake, not mine.’
“And I just want to make it clear that it wasn’t even an outstanding (pay increase I was looking for). It wasn’t in the millions. It wasn’t even a million or even really relatively close to a million. It was a little bit extra, chump change. I was like, ‘All right, if you could just give me a little bit more for their mistake, I would be happy and let’s get it on.’ I was like, ‘Let’s do it. It’s my chance to be great.’
“But they (Golden Boy) just didn’t want me to be great, you know? They just decided to stand around and that just shows that the people who are supposedly on my team felt like they weren’t really on my team.”
That was a few days ago. Today, Garcia and Golden Boy are again on the same team and Garcia has used his social media channels to celebrate his new deal.
“Just signed one of the most lucrative boxing deals for a prospect in the history of the sport,” he wrote. “Thank you to my team and (Oscar De la Hoya and Eric Gomez).
“Actions speak louder than words. I’m here today to show everybody that I consider Golden Boy my family and that we’re going to be in this together as I fulfil my dreams.
“Just like I have all the capabilities to become a big star, Golden Boy has all the tools to get me there. But I just want to tell all of our fans: Enjoy the ride!”
De La Hoya sounded every bit as elated – or perhaps relieved – to have settled their differences and solidified a potentially fruitful relationship.
“One of our defining features as a company is to develop champions and make them into stars,” he said. “From the second we discovered Garcia, we knew he was different. We knew he was special. We knew he could move the needle.
“Besides his amazing talent, he brings an outside appeal that few fighters can achieve. At the same time, he also needs the right environment to develop, and that environment is with us.
“Under our guidance, I have no doubt that this young, charismatic fighter will become the biggest star in the sport.”
With everything back to normal, Garcia will make his return to the ring in a co-main event slot on the Sergey Kovalev vs. Canelo Alvarez card on November 2.
His opponent? Romero Duno.