Wilder knocks down Fury twice, retains WBC heavyweight title | Photos

Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury fought to a split draw Saturday night, with Wilder retaining his WBC heavyweight title after knocking down his British challenger twice.

Wilder (40-0-1) floored Fury (27-0-1) in the ninth and 12th rounds, yet Fury clearly outboxed Wilder for large portions of the remainder of their entertaining showdown.

In his first bout of significance since he shocked the world by upsetting his way to the heavyweight championship in 2015, Tyson Fury survived a pair of hellacious knockdowns — including one in Round 12 — and appeared to outclass WBC champion Deontay Wilder before settling for a split draw in front of 17,698 fans at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The first heavyweight title pay-per-view bout in America since 2002 saw both fighters combine for a modern classic that was overflowing with tension and drama. One judge had it considerably wide at 115-111 for Wilder while the second had it 114-112 for Fury. The final scorecard was 113-113. CBS Sports scored it 115-111 for Fury.

While the fight played out exactly in favor of each fighter’s strengths as Fury controlled by boxing with constant feints and awkward angles while Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KOs) picked his spots to land heavy counter shots which threatened to end the fight. But the bigger story was the 30-year-old Fury’s ability to come back from so much turmoil outside the ring and regain his prime form of three years ago despite a lengthy battle with mental illness, substance abuse and a period in which he ballooned to as high as 400 pounds in 2017.

“We’re on away soil, I got knocked down twice, but I still believe I won that fight,” Fury said. “I’m being a total professional here. I went to Germany to fight [Wladimir] Klitschko [in 2015] and I went to America to fight Deontay Wilder. God bless America. The ‘Gypsy King’ has returned.

“I’m what you call a pro athlete that loves to box. I don’t know anyone on the planet that can move like that. That man is a fearsome puncher and I was able to avoid that. The world knows I won the fight.”

Fury (27-0-1, 19 KOs) not only retained his speed and elusiveness, he was as daring as ever in the face of the sport’s most dangerous puncher by slipping hard shots and countering clean as he taunted Wilder throughout the fight. With the American crowd surprisingly by his side, Fury also showed tremendous heart by overcoming fears he would gas out late and getting up from a two-punch knockdown in Round 12 that would’ve finished almost any other fighter.

Not only did Fury go on to outland Wilder, 84 to 71, according to CompuBox, he appeared to have the better stamina and landed the more telling punches outside of Wilder’s two knockdowns. Yet Wilder’s calling card of never being out of the fight proved true as he nearly won in dramatic fashion in the final round while seemingly down on the scorecards.

“I think with the two knockdowns I definitely won the fight,” Wilder said. “We poured our hearts out tonight. We’re both warriors, but with those two drops I think I won the fight. I came out slow. I rushed my punches. I didn’t sit still. I was too hesitant. I started overthrowing the right hand and I just couldn’t adjust.”