Tyson Fury has shades of Muhammad Ali, according to his co-promoter, Top Rank’s Bob Arum.
Speaking to talkSPORT ahead of Fury and Wilder’s third and final showdown in Las Vegas, Arum said the champion’s mentality he saw whilst promoting Ali is evident in Fury.
“Tyson Fury reminds me - and I’m not talking about his ability necessarily or how he fights - but he reminds me mentally of Muhammad Ali," said the veteran boxing promoter.
"Nothing, nothing upset Ali. Ali came to fight, he was having a good time and he was Ali.
“Same thing with Tyson Fury. He’s come to fight, he’s going to be Tyson Fury. He loves getting on the stage as he was yesterday and performing."
Fury’s composure and mindset is the secret to his silver tongue and Wilder felt the full brunt of that at the press conference this week.
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Arum said the verbal onslaught was embarrassing for Wilder to the point where he felt sorry for him.
“Look what happened, analyse what happened at that press conference yesterday; they had a bad format and now you have Wilder, who is nursing his wounds from the first fight saying stupid things about why he lost as Tyson Fury pointed out," Arum explained.
“Pick one! Say one. Don’t say six and expect people to believe you."
Wilder had a plethora of reasons as to why he lost the second fight. Chief among them were Fury’s gloves being tampered with, his entrance suit weighing him down and taking the power from his legs, his trainer spiking his water and the referee being drunk.
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“Mark Breland, who we all know was his cornerman, put stuff in his water? I mean give me a break! The referee who never had a drink in his life was drunk? So preposterous,” Arum said.
Fury and Wilder didn’t have a traditional face-off at the press conference, both Arum and Frank Warren made sure of that. But why?
Arum admitted: “So they start talking and Tyson gets carried away, he obliterated Wilder with what he was saying.
"It was embarrassing because you felt sorry for Wilder. There ain’t no way he can handle himself in a debate with Tyson Fury. Maybe in the ring he can, but not verbally.
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“So now he’s getting massacred and they want to bring them together. How is Wilder going to answer back? He’s going to do something!
"He’s going to hit or push him and there’s not one security guy on stage and my fight goes down the drain.”
