Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder: Brit feels he has the home advantage in Los Angeles, not the American
Fury has been training at the city's famed Wild Card Gym, since coming down from Big Bear, California, and insists he has been heartily welcomed into LA life
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Your support makes all the difference.Tyson Fury has been an adopted resident of Los Angeles for nearly a month now and the 6ft 9in traveller is adamant that fact has not been lost on the locals.
Deontay Wilder, who puts his WBC heavyweight title on the line against Fury at the Staples Center on Saturday, might be the nominal home fighter but his opponent took aim at the defending champion's profile ahead of their encounter.
Fury has been training at the city's famed Wild Card Gym, since coming down the hill from Big Bear, California, and insists he has been heartily welcomed into LA life. Alabama native Wilder, Fury claims, is still not known on the streets of his own country despite a lofty position at the heavyweight top table.
“The awareness here about me has been staggering,” said Fury of LA. “A lot of people have been coming up and saying 'I hope you have a good fight, champ'.
“A lot of people just come up and talk to me about different things. I believe more people in Los Angeles know me ahead of Deontay Wilder.
“He hasn't done anything wrong but I don't think his promoters have pushed him as much as they could have.
“He's 40-0 with 39 KOs and everyone in America should know the heavyweight champion of the world.
“He's charismatic, colourful and dresses well and is a knock-out artist,why is he not a superstar in this country? I don't know.”
The duo's encounter at the weekend will be the violent and lucrative climax to years of dialogue between the pair – and also the fulfilling of a prophecy made by the late, great trainer Emanuel Steward.
“I met Wilder a long time ago, in 2012,“ Fury said. “That was face-to-face, but I had followed his story from the very beginning because he is of my era.
“I got him in the ring [at a show] in 2013 in Rotherham. He stood in the corner at the back of the hall and no one knew who he was back then like they still don't know now.
“And I told everyone then that Deontay Wilder would one day be the heavyweight champion of the world, and I will be too, and we will fight and it will be the biggest fight for a long time.
“Emanuel Steward said in 2012 that he only saw two new names coming through to the top; Tyson Fury and the kid in America... the kid in America no one talks about and that was Deontay Wilder.
“He had trained both of us and knew how hard it would it be. This is no easy fight for either man, I have trained for the hardest fight of my career and I know Deontay Wilder respects me too.”
Fury has even suggested that he will continue to campaign on this side of the Atlantic should he beat Wilder and clinch the title here on Saturday night.
“Look up in the sky and you will see why,” Fury replied when asked why he would favour a boxing life in California.
“At home it is freezing and here it is a red-hot summer's day in December.
“I am going to continue my career over here. When I beat Deontay Wilder I will have Dominic Breazeale so I will defend that in LA or Vegas.”
However, his four weeks in LA has 'opened' the challenger's eyes to a problem he feels capable of helping with once he heads back home to Morecambe next week.
“It has opened my eyes to so many different cultures and things happening,” he said.
“There are a lot of people on the streets here, more than I have ever seen in my life. I stayed in Downtown L.A but if you go just five minutes away there are thousands of people homeless.
“You could think you were in a third-world country, it's a crisis situation and something needs to be done about it.
“I know I am just an outsider with an opinion on it and it is a situation happening all over the world, especially in the UK and in the US.
“When I get home I am going to build some homes for the homeless and setup some funds for drug addicts and alcoholics. I was always going to do it and being here has just given me that extra push to do it.”
But, for now, Fury has to focus on fighting. Wilder, 40-0 with 39 KOs, is arguably the most dangerous opponent of his decade-long career but the visiting challenger is calm.
“I don't know what I will do,” Fury added. “I have been accused many times of not knowing what I am doing until I am in there and I agree.
“I do not know what I am going to do. You plan one thing and you get in there and it all changes. I might have to fight, box, move or go in the trenches.
“But I am capable of having a fight with anyone in the world and I am capable of out-boxing anyone in the world.
“I am very relaxed, I do not get nervous or tense about a fight, this is just another boxing match after my first 27."
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