Watch Tyson Fury Sing ‘American Pie’ After Dominating Deontay Wilder To Win Heavyweight Title
“The king has returned to the top of the throne!”
Tyson Fury dominated Deontay Wilder to win the WBC heavyweight title Saturday night in the much-anticipated heavyweight championship rematch to their 2018 bout that ended in a controversial split draw.
After scoring two knockdowns, Fury (30-0-1, 23 KOs) defeated Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) via a seventh-round TKO. CBS Sports‘ live scorecard had Fury winning every round before the stoppage.
The British “Gypsy King” used his superior boxing ability, ring aggression and rough-and-tumble tactics to brilliantly overwhelm the Alabama-born Wilder, who is one of the hardest punchers in the sport’s history.
THE GYPSY KING IS THE KING OF BOXING! 👑#WilderFury2 pic.twitter.com/3qDbApeXsH
— ESPN (@espn) February 23, 2020
“A big shout out to Deontay Wilder,” Fury said in a post-fight interview with the belt draped over his shoulder. “He came here tonight and he manned up and he really did show the heart of a champion.”
“I hit him with a clean right that dropped him and he got back up. He is a warrior. He will be back. He will be champion again. But I will say, the king has returned to the top of the throne!”
"[Deontay Wilder] will be a champion again, but I will say the king has returned to the top of the throne."
—Tyson Fury 👑 #WilderFury2 pic.twitter.com/mwKWZC8ZUM
— ESPN (@espn) February 23, 2020
“I’m doing good. Things like this happen,” Wilder said in his own post-fight interview. “The best man won tonight, but my corner threw in the towel and I was ready to go out on my shield.”
“I had a lot of things going on heading into this fight. It is what it is, but I make no excuses tonight. I just wish my corner would have let me go out on my shield. I’m a warrior. He had a great performance and we will be back stronger.”
Fury celebrated his dominant victory in the ring by leading a singalong to Don McClean’s 1971 hit “American Pie” that you can watch here.
And it wasn’t the first time Fury belted out a classic rock tune after a decisive win–he sang Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” after his second-round stoppage of Tom Schwarz in 2019.
As for Fury’s next fight, Wilder still has a month to exercise a rematch clause for a third bout with Fury, but after Saturday night’s dominant win, most boxing fans would rather see Fury fight fellow British heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in a bout that would crown boxing’s first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 2000.
Inside Hook reports:
That bout would be against fellow Brit Anthony Joshua, who followed up his shocking loss to Andy Ruiz with a unanimous decision in the rematch back in December. With a high-profile victory for each boxer in recent memory, Fury-Joshua would be the biggest, most lucrative fight either boxer could book going forward.
Their matchup would also be a unification fight for the main four heavyweight belts in the world, with the winner potentially becoming the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the world since Lennox Lewis in 2000.
After Fury’s domination of Wilder, DAZN — the streaming service that has an exclusive deal with Joshua — tweeted out a Photoshopped image of Fury and Joshua to tease the fight.
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) February 23, 2020
But even if Fury decides to face “AJ,” Joshua must first face Kubrat Pulev, his first of two mandatory challengers.
However, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn is already calling for Fury to face Joshua in an undisputed heavyweight superfight this summer.
It’s a good bet the lucrative fight between the two British superstars will happen at some point–it’s just a matter of when.