Tyson Fury reckons the traditional final face-off would be a bad idea this time around.
Fury fired a warning at opponent Deontay Wilder on the eve of their weigh-in for the WBC heavyweight title bout, insisting that a repeat of Wednesday’s chaotic press conference would not end well for ‘The Bronze Bomber’.
The two undefeated heavyweights almost came to blows on Wednesday, when Fury took umbrage with a scrape to his forehead from a wayward Wilder finger.
And when ‘The Gypsy King’ sat with us reporters in Los Angeles the very next day, he suggested that there should be no staredown after both men take to the scales.
“There should be no face-off at the weigh-in, and if it comes to fisticuffs then let’s have it. I will not wait until Saturday if he gets in my face before,” Fury said.
“If I’m provoked then I have to retaliate. Hitting me is the worst thing anyone can ever do.”
Fury has a theory that Wilder was attempting to goad him into throwing a punch in order to force the cancellation of the fight but the Brit would not take the bait.
While he has been no stranger to controversy in the past, Fury was in apologetic form at his media roundtable.
“I am quite embarrassed by what happened yesterday,” Fury said. “It was unsportsmanlike conduct and for everyone watching around the world, it went off!
“I wasn’t proud of it and I’d like to take this opportunity to apologise on both of our behalves because I don’t think Deontay Wilder came in here and apologised but it wasn’t as a sportsman should be.
Oh my, that face-off! 😳
It all kicked off on stage during the Wilder v Fury press conference… again!
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“It got out of hand. You had two undefeated fighters who want to win really badly.
“Deontay Wilder is obviously nervous and rattled and he felt like he had the need to get in my face.
“Do you know what? He was lucky I didn’t take his teeth out. He got up really close to me, in my face. I could smell his breath. I could feel the spit coming out of his mouth when he was screaming and ranting about rubbish.”
