Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder 3 Live Blog

Live updates, analysis and scores from Fury vs. Wilder at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Author:
Chris Mannix
Updated:
Oct 10, 2021
Original:
Oct 9, 2021

LAS VEGAS — Tyson Fury defeated Deontay Wilder Saturday night with in an 11th-round TKO at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

See below for unofficial scoring, round-by-round recap and pre-fight coverage.

Round-by-Round Analysis

ROUND 1: Wilder opens with two jabs to the body. That’s been a point of emphasis for him in this camp. Wilder swings wildly at Fury’s head. Wilder continues the body attack. Aiming everything at the midsection. Fury not engaging yet. Fury lands a clubbing right hand. Wilder just misses with a right. Threw it off a double jab. Fury taps Wilder with a combination. Fury clips Wilder with a right before the bell. Wilder edges this one. 10–9, Wilder.

ROUND 2: Fury more aggressive to open this one. Wilder continues to throw that long jab to the body. Fury connects with a right hand. Wilder warned for hitting behind the head. Fury leans his 277-pound frame onto Wilder. Wilder lands a right hand. Fury counters with a right of his own. Fury digs to the body. Edge that to Fury. 10–9, Fury.

ROUND 3: Wilder starting to look tired. Fury leaning on him a lot. Referee warns Fury, who peppers Wilder with a jab and a right hand. Wilder answers with a right hand of his own. Fury has Wilder hurt. Down goes Wilder! Wilder has looked hurt and gassed since the second round. Vicious uppercut by Fury. Great round for Fury. 10–8, Fury.

ROUND 4: Wilder looks gassed. He’s desperately trying to land a right hand. Fury is picking him apart with the jab. No more body attack from Wilder. He’s on the defensive now. Fury backs Wilder into the ropes. And Wilder lands a right hand! Down goes Fury! Wilder presses the action. Down goes Fury again! Fury is saved by the bell! 10–7, Wilder.

ROUND 5: Wilder comes out swinging right hands. Fury lands a hard right to Wilder’s head. Fury back on the jab. Wilder corners Fury now, throwing bombs. Fury waves him in. Fury lands a combination. Both of these guys look completely gassed. Much slower round. Give it to Fury. 10–9, Fury.

ROUND 6: Fury back on his jab. Hangs on Wilder again, who nearly goes down from the weight. Wilder lands a hard right! Four punch combination from Fury. Wilder answers with a right. Fury connects with his own right. Wilder splits the guard with a 1–2 combination. Good Fury round. 10–9, Fury.

ROUND 7: Fury on the attack. Lands a right over the top. Lands another right. Wilder backing up. Wilder is just trying to land the 1–2 combination. Fury crushes Wilder with a right. Batters him to the body. He’s back in control. Wilder is hurt! Referee gave that a long look. That was close to a 10–8 round. I’ll call it 10–9, Fury.

ROUND 8: Wilder takes a long time on his stool. Fury up and bouncing in the middle of the ring. Fury lands a right. Wilder clings to the ropes. Fury is hunting him. Combination by Fury. Wilder has nothing. Fury chases him. Wilder flings a combination. Easy round for Fury. 10–9, Fury.

ROUND 9: Wilder again lingers on the stool. The doctor takes a long look at him. Talks to Wilder in the ring. Fury taps at Wilder’s body. Hard right to the body by Fury. Wilder lands a right! Fury takes it well. Fury flurries, hits Wilder with a three-punch combination. Wilder slips a right hand down the middle, but his punches have lost a lot of steam. They trade uppercuts at the bell. 10–9, Fury.

ROUND 10: These rounds are starting to look exactly the same. Fury lands a bomb on Wilder against the ropes. Fury has been grappling with Wilder all fight, and that has taken a lot out of Wilder. HUGE right by Fury! Wilder is down! Gets up. Referee takes a long look. Both men trade uppercuts. Wilder catches Fury in the corner! Winging combinations now. Wilder got some good licks in there at the end, but that was a Fury round. 10–8, Fury.

ROUND 11: Big uppercut from Fury to open the round. Two right hands by Fury. Big right hand from Fury … and it is over! Wilder goes down hard, referee immediately waves it off!

Incredible fight. Fight of the Year, perhaps. Wilder showed incredible heart. But his lack of conditioning showed early in the fight, and he was never able to land enough punches to keep Fury off of him. And Fury survived a two knockdown assault in the fourth round to finish it in the 11th.

Pre-fight Coverage:

We are ringside—finally—for the third installment of Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, a fight 20-months, two positive COVID tests and one lawsuit in the making. It’s been a noticeably subdued fight week in Vegas; a spike in COVID cases in the area forced most of the fight week events, including the weigh-in, behind closed doors. Both fighters tipped the scales at career high weights: 277 pounds for Fury, 238 pounds for Wilder.

And that is the biggest storyline in my eyes. Fury is just four pounds heavier than he was in February 2020, when he battered Wilder over seven-plus rounds. Wilder weighed 231 pounds for that fight. Wilder believes the extra weight will make him more durable; some boxing analysts see the weight potentially causing Wilder to fatigue early, something we saw from him in the last fight with Fury.

We’ve had you covered all week at Sports Illustrated.

10 p.m. — Jared “Big Baby” Anderson kicks off the pay-per-view with a second round stoppage of Vladimir Tereshkin. Anderson (10–0) is a promising heavyweight prospect. Tereshkin’s record (22-1-1) was inflated, but he was the strongest opponent of Anderson's career—and Anderson just walked right through him. Up next: the rematch between Robert Helenius and Adam Kownacki.

10:30 p.m. — Robert Helenius wins the rematch with Adam Kownacki, dominating Kownacki over six rounds before the referee stopped the fight. In what was the most anticipated fight of the undercard, Helenius was terrific, hurting Kownacki twice in the first round, closing his left eye in the third and hammering him with combinations throughout the fight.

For Helenius, these two wins over Kownacki represent a career revival. Two years ago, Helenius appeared finished after a knockout loss to journeyman Gerald Washington. Now at 37, Helenius is positioned for a significant fight in 2022.

For the 33-year-old Kownacki, it’s back to the drawing board. His conditioning didn’t look much better than in the first fight. His style—aggressive, without much head movement, making him basically a stationary target—was the same. Kownacki is still a draw in New York, but he will need to back to the drawing board and attempt to rebuild his career in ‘22.

11:15 p.m. — In an uneventful co-main event, Frank Sanchez outpointed Efe Ajagba by a wide unanimous decision. Ajagba made waves early in his career with some impressive knockouts, but he has looked more mortal in recent fights. Against a skilled boxer with legit heavyweight pop in Sanchez, he was outclassed. Sanchez dropped Ajagba with a hard right hand in the seventh round. He followed it up with a left when Ajagba was on one knee. Bizarrely, referee Mike Ortega did not call the knockdown. Rather, Ortega admonished Sanchez for hitting Ajagba when he was down. Ultimately, it didn’t matter. Sanchez, who trains under Eddy Reynoso, did more than enough to secure the win.

Next … Fury-Wilder III

11:36 p.m. —Crowd buzzing, anthems done … and we wait. No sign of either fighter, and the pay-per-view is just filling. There is reportedly a minor issue with Deontay Wilder’s gloves. Though they could just be waiting for the Alabama game to be over. It’s boxing—you never know.

11:39 p.m. — A Fury team source tells SI the delay is "typical BS gamesmanship" on the part of Wilder. The wait continues.

11:44 p.m. — And here comes Deontay Wilder. The ex-heavyweight champ comes to the ring in a red and black robe. Recall that Wilder blamed a 40-plus pound outfit as one of the reasons he lost to Fury last year. A considerably scaled back ring walk attire for this one.

11:47 p.m. — And here comes the champ, Tyson Fury. What a remarkable few years it has been for Fury. From 400 pounds and battling depression to the top heavyweight in the world, all in a three-year span. Fury, who was carried to the ring on a throne before the last fight, walks with the wardrobe of a Spartan soldier to this one, surrounded by shielded soldiers who follow him.

And here … we … go …