‘I picked him as my third comeback fight. Deontay Wilder is looking for any excuse to get out of this fight now he knows it is on him but I am not going to lose millions of pounds in fines for hitting him — definitely not, I am too clever for that.
‘This is a serious thing for us, we are not here to act. We are not here to play games or mess around. I touched his shoulder because I changed my mind from cracking him. He nearly poked me in the eye and scratched my forehead, I wondered if it would be self-defence if I cracked him.
‘My lawyer said before it started: ‘Whatever you do, do not hit him’. We should not have got that close together, I was not there to cause a fight, he was taking it too seriously.
‘There should be no face-off at the weigh-in and if I am provoked then I have to retaliate, hitting me is the worst thing anyone can ever do.’ The CSAC could move to punish the heavyweights if there are further skirmishes, which could include withholding the fighters’ purses. Tensions tend to sky rocket during fight week, but Wilder in particular seems wound up after a war of words between both heavyweights.
Wilder seems to have embraced his self-proclaimed alter ego the ‘Bronze Bomber’, but Fury admitted he was embarrassed by what happened during the press conference. ‘I am quite embarrassed about what happened on Tuesday,’ Fury said. ‘It was unsporting conduct with everyone watching around the world and I would like to take the opportunity to apologise on both our behalves. It was not how sportsmen should be. ‘It got out of hand but it was two unbeaten fighters who want to win, badly. Deontay Wilder is obviously nervous and rattled and he felt the need to get in my face. He’s lucky I did not take his teeth out, I could smell his breath and feel the spit hitting me when he was screaming all that rubbish. ‘I was calm but I was thinking about hitting him with a left hook and headbutting him but I knew that is what he wanted.’
