Deontay Wilder's trainer: 'Tyson Fury doesn’t make it out of five rounds'
Malik Scott, the co-trainer of former heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder, has said he expects his protégé to surprise a lot of people when he faces Tyson Fury in their third fight on Oct. 9 in Las Vegas.
And the fact the fight was delayed after Fury tested positive for COVID-19 only makes him more confident.
Scott spoke to me and Kenneth Bouhairie on The PBC Podcast.
“My prediction is still the same … I don’t believe Fury is going to make it out of five rounds,” Scott said. “… [Wilder] is even more focused than he was before the postponement. And my prediction now is there is no telling when it will happen because that’s how sharp and how good he is looking.
“It’s the best Deontay Wilder I’ve ever seen from so many different levels. And when I say that I’m not talking about in the gym or in the ring. … What you do outside the gym to me is just as important, if not more important. … It’s the investments that you’re putting into yourself … to get the exact result we’re aiming for when it comes to Oct. 9.
“We plan on hurting Fury really bad. And Deontay Wilder is training as such. And he’s acting very accordingly to the situation, the task we have at hand. So Tyson Fury doesn’t make it out of five rounds or earlier.”
Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) and Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) fought to a draw in December 2018. Fury won the rematch by a seventh-round knockout to take Wilder’s WBC title in February of last year, after which Wilder fired longtime trainer Mark Breland.
Neither boxer has fought since.