TYSON FURY won one of the greatest fights in the history of boxing by once again shaking off two Deontay Wilder knockdowns – and then knocking him out.
The British star TWICE picked himself off the canvas and managed to put American Wilder down THREE times in total.
Fury’s position as the greatest heavyweight of this era was cemented for the ages.
He survived a terrifying fourth-round battering to KO his nemesis in round 11 in spectacular style on a wild Las Vegas night.
Wilder was battered down in the third and it looked like another early night for the American.
But the 35-year-old former WBC champion rallied incredibly to drop Fury twice in a magnificent fourth round.
Fury then combined skill with power to collapse Wilder again in round 10.
But when Fury scored the hat-trick in round 11 the game was over and he was secured the greatest big man of his era.
The victory is a massive boost for British boxing, after Anthony Joshua’s shock defeat to Aleksandr Usyk last month in London.
After the fight, a bruised Fury said: “Like the great John Wayne said I am made from pig iron and steel baby.
“I was down a couple of times and hurt and Wilder is a tough man too after he got up a few times too.
“It was a great fight tonight, worthy of any trilogy in the sport, I always said I am the first best and he is second.
“But I went over to show love and respect and he didn’t want it to so I will pray for him.”
The fight lived up the the hype from the first bell.
Referee Russell Mora wished them health and safety and then ordered them to go to war.
Wilder ran over started throwing long jabs to Fury’s long body and when he ventured upstairs with his huge right hand, the Traveller used the ropes to bounce out of the way first and then a shoulder roll to deflect the second.
Then right at the end of the opener, the Brit battled back with a booming right that seemed to wobble the American but was too close to the bell.
As soon as the second started, Fury – who had walked to the ring dressed as a Spartan warrior – clipped the challenger with a right hand but he looked in a far better state to absorb them than 20 months earlier.
Wilder then landed a trademark right but it was a trigger for Fury to launch an instant attack.
And all of the Englishman’s combos ended with him grabbing and grappling the 17st man to use his 3st weight advantage to drain away his reserves.
An early third-round double jab from Wilder was punished by a check left hook from Fury, who was watched by wife Paris in the crowd.
Then the Alabama giant launched a blitz attack and fury looked hurt but then Fury turned the tables again and floored him with a giant riant hand
Somehow Wilder got up and survived the round.
Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal’s stunned reaction said it all as a photo of the star with his jaw dropping went viral.
But Wilder looked like a wounded man in the fourth and Fury kept clipping him with shots and then smothering and mauling him.
After every brain rattling punch was followed by a 20st rugby tackle – until Wilder stunned the world.
A massive right hand collapsed Fury into a heap for seven seconds but he incredibly climbed to his feet but was soon bundled over for another count of seven before the bell saved him.
In the fifth Fury defied everything we understand to land another crunching right hand but Wilder – roared on by an all US crowd shook it off.
Both men were on their last legs by the fifth, exhausted by the pressure and punishment they had absorbed and inflicted.
In the sixth Fury utterly pinged Wilder with a one-two but he rebounded off the ropes and cracked a right hand back, it was breathless iconic action for the ages.
Wilder then knelt into the canvas as he struggled to handle the constant wrestling and leaning but it was rightly not scored a knockdown.
The spoiled crowd chose to boo the start of the seventh over too much hugging so Fury taught them some manners by brutalising their hero with right hands and a whip-lashing uppercut.
Wilder looked broken and beaten and bloody but he had vowed his corner would bring no white towel to the ring to allow for another surrender.
Wilder’s gangly legs were proving too lean to uphold the new muscle bulked onto his torso and he was stumbling around the ring under Fury’s Mexican-style pressure in round eight.
If respected former coach Mark Breland had not been sacked for saving his life last time out, he might have repeated his brave move again on Saturday.
Instead Wilder’s new team of friends and brothers kept sending their supposed sibling out for beatings.
The ringside doctor almost stopped the bout before round nine when Wilder’s savaged face looked as damaged as his legs.
But then he almost landed another life-changing punch that staggered Fury but failed to fold him.
And the Alabaman somehow ended the stanza on the front foot, with Fury held up by the ropes after taking a range of digs.
There were no marks on Fury’s bearded face but his brain had definitely been scrambled by some of Wilder’s howitzers.
But then Wilder was on the floor after Fury’s genius defensive work allowed him to dodge a wild hook and then chin him to the canvas to make it 2-2 in floorings.
But, in another script switch too outrageous for any Rocky movie, Wilder slashed and slugged his way back into the round, wobbling Fury with looped blows around his temples.
But in round eleven Fury landed a couple of sensational uppercuts to put the final nail in their three-fight rivalry.
Down the 6ft 7in American went and the referee didn’t even need to count.
Fury somehow still had the energy to race across the ring and scale the corner turnbuckles to celebrate winning of the great fights in the history of boxing.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
