TYSON FURY addressed the media in a downtown Los Angeles hotel the morning after his highly contentious draw with WBC heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder.
Fury, showing the bruises of battle but retaining a sense of humour, spoke about the judges’ decision and the two knockdowns that allowed Wilder to salvage his championship.
This is what Tyson Fury had to say:
“I don’t know what fight they were watching,” said Fury. “It was the baddest [worst] decision since first Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield fight. It’s stuff like this that gives boxing a bad name. All the reports will be about how bad the decision was.
“I thought I won the fight comfortably, even though I had to climb off the floor twice. If I didn’t get knocked down twice, I would still have lost on one judge’s card. He should be banned from boxing. Or at least go to Specsavers.
“I got up from the knockdowns. That’s what true champions do. I had two choices, stay down or get up. As long as there is life in this body I will get up. It’s very easy to beat me – you have nail me to the floor.
“I’m not going to let the decision ruin what was a good fight.
“Wilder has had a gift decision in his own country, fair play to him. He still has the green belt but the world knows it belongs to Tyson Fury. But I don’t want to take anything away from Wilder, the decision was not his fault and he’s a fantastic fighter.
“You can’t go swimming and not get wet. And I got wet. I got drenched actually.
“Fair play to Jack Reiss, he’s fantastic referee, the best I’ve ever experienced. He did say in the changing room before the fight, ‘If anyone goes down I will give you chance to prove you’re okay. But you must prove you’re okay, otherwise I will stop the fight.
“I feel on top of the world [compared to after beating Wladimir Klitschko]. I didn’t do this for myself I did it for the people all over the world who are suffering. That was why I rose. To fight like that, it was the best performance of my life.
“I done myself proud. It could easily have been a riot there last night, but I calmed the situation down by not complaining about the decision.
“This is boxing. You win some, you lose some and, in my case, you draw some. But it’s all about your health. It was a free left hook [that knocked me down the second time], I could have had brain damage after that punch, I could have had my brain scrambled.
“Everybody said when I appointed Ben [Davison] as my trainer that he couldn’t do it, they said he’d fold under the pressure. Well you didn’t fold did you Davie Boy! Nobody could have done better than Davison here. He was calm and offered me good advice, even when I was down.
“And full respect to Deontay Wilder too. People in America should wake up. Deontay Wilder should be up there with the biggest stars in the game and he proved that last night.
“Hopefully we get a rematch with Wilder but if not, I wish him all the best in his career. But the big fights must happen in 2019.
“I came over here to crack the USA and if I’d got the decision I’d be going home with the WBC belt.”
