Earlier this month (Sat. December 1, 2018) Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury put on an excellent heavyweight match-up. Wilder defended his WBC heavyweight championship against “The Gypsy King.” The pair fought all 12 rounds, and many fans believed the Englishman should’ve gotten the nod on the judges’ scorecards. However, Wilder scored the only two knockdowns of the fight.
His second knockdown very well could’ve been a knockout, as Fury looked to be unconscious for a few seconds. However, he got to his feet and was able to finish the fight to see a controversial split decision draw. Now, a rematch is likely to happen in early 2019.
Recently, former unified two-division champion Bernard Hopkins offered his thoughts on the matter to Boxing Scene. Hopkins said he thought Wilder should’ve won the first match-up, and believes “The Bronze Bomber” will pick up the knockout victory in the rematch:
“Wilder won this fight. And I can easily say the two knockdowns secured it to me…. based on the rounds that went past those knockdowns. Wilder did lay back a little bit and Fury did throw some punches here and there but they were not effective.
“Wilder will stop him next time,” Hopkins said. “I think [Anthony] Joshua is the most fundamentally sound, the most athletic out of all the heavyweights out there. But Wilder, I believe he won the fight…. not by split, but unanimous [decision]. I think he done enough, I think he got the two knockdowns that gave him a huge lead.
“I think they [the judges] got it wrong, because I didn’t see rounds that he lost that made it a draw.”
What do you think about Hopkins predicting a Wilder knockout in the Fury rematch?
