Fury predicts second-round knockout of Wilder

Deontay Wilder may not believe it, but Tyson Fury predicted a second-round knockout in their heavyweight title rematch.

Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury.   -  Getty Images

Tyson Fury predicted he would knock Deontay Wilder out in the second round of their rematch next month. Fury and Wilder will finally face off again at MGM Grand on February 22 in their highly anticipated rematch, having drawn their first fight in December 2018.

Unsurprisingly, the Brit (29-0-1) believes he will be successful, predicting a second-round KO of Wilder. "Deontay knows he was rocked three or four times in the last fight and I didn't have the gas to finish him," he told a news conference on Monday.

"This time I can turn that screwdriver until he is gone. You are going to sleep in two rounds. I keep having the same dream about round two. I am playing poker and I get dealt the number two card. He is getting knocked out in round two, 100 per cent."

Wilder, the WBC heavyweight title holder, responded by questioning whether Fury truly believed in his own comments.

"I mean that's what he believes in his heart. That's what he believes. I always teach people when I speak – I say speak it, believe it, receive it," the American said.

"But the magic of it all is the belief, it's the belief. And though he's saying it, I don't feel that in his energy that he believes that he's going to do that.

"If anything I feel that he's nervous, he's very scared because of what happened the first time and I understand. This is boxing and sometimes fighters have to put up this front like it's all good and nothing gets to them or nothing hurts them or we're always acting tough and stuff because of the sport that we're in, but I'm a realist.

"He knows what happened. What you get knocked out like that and you don't know how you got there or how you got up, it was the grace of God. That bothers you. That not only affects you, but it affects your environment, it affects your family as well because they know you're going in there again with this monster and you know what he's capable of doing.

"It's not an act, it's something I do every time I'm out, I knock guys out, every guy that I've faced I've put him down and it won't be no different this time around either."