Tyson Fury perhaps has a right to feel aggrieved that he’s not leaving the Staples Centre with the WBC Heavyweight strap around his shoulder after he seemingly dominated his title fight with the American holder Deontay Wilder.
The ‘Gypsy King’ made it to the judge’s scorecards and must have felt he had comprehensively won the bout having schooled his less skilled rival and clearly put in a good enough performance to take the belt home.
What may have cost Fury on the cards, however, were the two knockdowns he suffered during the fight. The second of those, coming in the last round of the contest saw Fury summon scarcely believable grit to get back on his feet after being put down by a couple of rounds from the ‘Bronze Bomber’.
With the home fighter seeming tired in the later rounds and going into the last round needing a big shot he found one, stinging Fury with a vicious two punch combo that sent him flying, hitting his head off the canvas.
The blinking, stunned Fury, all 18-odd stone of him, looked beaten but lumbered back off the ground just in time to beat the count. He remained in real danger put, for the rest of the last round, managed to grapple and grasp and jab his way to the last bell.
Asked how his fighter had managed to get back from what looked like a lights-out moment, his trainer Ben Davison looked to the divine for explanation.
“The man upstairs. A hundred percent,” he said when interviewed in the ring.
99.9% off people thought it was over when the ref was at 8.. 😮😮😮
Fury may have the best chin ever.. 💯
#WilderFury 🥊