By Cassandra Cousineau for LVSportsBiz.com
At first, the fight promotions, TV spots and ads for Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury have been cordial ahead of their rematch at the MGM Grand Garden Arena Saturday.
But now it’s fight week here in Las Vegas, where sleep deprivation, the isolation of camp, and barrage of media obligations are colliding for Wilder and Fury.
Their mutual and perfunctory pre-fight respect all changed Wednesday afternoon when the two heavyweights kicked off the final press conference inside the Grand Garden Arena with a whole lot of heated words, pushing and shoving.
The two undefeated heavyweights nearly came to fisticuffs immediately after reaching the stage together in front of a packed house of international and domestic media types.
The pushing and shoving may have had the look of something being staged. But the back-and-forth verbal assault appeared real. It was a hodgepodge of expletive-laden low blows barely able to be aired on ESPN and Fox, the broadcast partners for the fight event. Security eventually got between the men and restored some civility during the scheduled interview with ESPN’s Joe Tessitore.
Tessitore tried his best to regain some control of the interview, but that train had long left the station and nearly derailed after Fury went on a soliloquy of being responsible for getting Wilder into big-time boxing.
“I gave Wilder the biggest payday of his life and brought him to the biggest stage. Deontay owes me everything, I brought him to this level, and this is his second fight at the top.” Fury said.
To which Wilder unloaded and delivered his harshest criticism of his opponent to date. “When I found you, you were strung out on coke. When I found you, you were like a big house contemplating killing yourself. So, don’t you ever forget who brought you to big time boxing. I drug you back. I brought you back. I provided food on your table for your family to eat.”
After two commercial breaks, the temperature in the room cooled off and even offered a bit of levity when Fury proclaimed his adopted U.S. home Las Vegas to be, “The home of the Gypsy King. The entertainment capital of the world with the biggest entertainer.”
The Gypsy King has also developed quite a list of nicknames for Wilder, his favorite being the Big Dosser. The loose meaning is an underling who carries bags and does meaningless tasks.
LVSportsBiz.com asked The Bronze Bomber about those pet names and whether he had one for the Gypsy King. “Big Mama,” he said of Fury, calling the six-foot, nine-inch heavyweight boxer, “Big Mama.”
Fury, too, infused the word, “mama,” in the highly entertaining press conference when he called himself the No. 1 heavyweight in the world and demoted Wilder to the third spot.
“Then who’s number two?” Wilder asked. Without hesitation Fury responded, “Yo mama.”
“When I knock yo (expletive) out, go and be a stand-up comedian,” an amused Wilder told Fury.
The usual final face-off was scrapped per Top Rank founder Bob Arum who quipped,. “There isn’t enough security. God forbid we could lose the fight.”
Here’s a look at the entire press conference.
Before the Wednesday fireworks, here’s a look at this week’s comments.
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