TYSON FURY felt robbed by the numbers when the scorecards for his first Deontay Wilder fight were revealed.
But the figures from the CompuBox punch stats should give him plenty of confidence ahead of Saturday’s rematch.
Tyson Fury landed more punches at a better success rate than Deontay Wilder in their first fight
While the Gypsy King probably needs to be bang on form for all 36 Las Vegas minutes, KO artist Wilder only needs a split second of success.
Fury has promised to come in almost a stone heavier than the December 2018 original, in his bid to take the fight to the American WBC champ.
And if he can add power to his precision, he might just be able to pull off a huge shock.
A healthy 47 of Fury’s 104 power punches (36.5 per cent) connected with Wilder’s face and body in Los Angeles, proving that while the champ packs a punch, he is an easy-to-find 6ft 7in target.
Fury, however, was so slippery only 98 of Wilder’s 430 punches landed, a measly 16.5 per cent.
But, as we know from the slow start Wilder made against Fury and Cuban veteran Luis Ortiz last time out, he only needs a nanosecond to switch the lights off in his opponent’s head.
Wilder’s trademark right hand is almost always trained on his rival’s skull.
But the undefeated Alabama giant might be wise to focus a few more power punches at Fury’s fleshy midriff, where he has piled on the extra weight, to test the resilience of what once was a firm set of abs.
Wilder threw only 11 power shots at Fury’s torso at the Staples Center and 16 of his undervalued jab and that might be a secret key to success.
Fury is making a lot of noise about round two being the special one he can stop the Tuscaloosa man in but it would take a big swing from the original bout.
Only 19.2 per cent of all of Fury’s shots – jab and power, to head and body – landed in that second stanza, making it his joint-least successful round.
Most of Wilder’s backers fancy him to get the job done in the middle-to-late rounds after the Brit has tired.
And that definitely seemed to be the plan when they first met to slug out their classic encounter, once he had gotten used to Fury’s unorthodox style.
After a slow and steady start, sussing out the 6ft 9in heavyweight, who moves around the ring like a welterweight, Wilder went up the gears after round four.
In rounds five, six, seven, eight and nine, Wilder threw a total of 192 punches, compared to just the 154 he threw in the opening four rounds.
Of all the sports that stats are applied to, boxing is the one that finds it easiest to make a mockery of the bean counting and point scoring.
So much of the psychology, skill and power is immeasurable.
There’s every chance the Englishman lands the most jabs, hardly gets hit all evening and is coasting along to another points win.
But Wilder’s right hand has proved time and time again to be judge, jury and executioner.
The numbers do not lie. But Deontay Wilder’s one-shot power can make fools and fibbers of us all.
The complete list of stats from the whole first fight show Fury was a lot more accurate
Tempers flare as Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder face off ahead of big fight
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
