Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder were stopped from facing off ahead of their trilogy fight on Sunday, as legendary promoter Bob Arum blasted the moderator of today’s press conference.
The event started off in a civil manner with moderator Kate Abdo asking each fighter a range of questions that aroused colourful responses.
However, it got more out of control the longer it lasted as the fighters traded insults. Abdo tried to get them to meet at the middle of the stage for the customary tradition, before Arum jumped out of his seat and yelled “No! No! No!”
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Fury and Wilder seemed taken aback by Arum’s demand before they went their separate ways.
Arum, Fury’s promoter, took aim at the British broadcaster for the way things unfolded, suggesting she was biased towards the American.
“They bring this woman in from the UK and she’s slanting all the press conference to Wilder,” Arum said. “I don’t give a damn but it’s obvious that’s what she was doing.
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“She knew that the understanding was no face-off … we said no face-off, and what does she say? ‘Now we’re going to do a face-off’.
“F— her and f— them. There was no face-off and we saved the fight.”
During the press conference, Wilder said he didn’t regret accusing Fury of illegally tampering with his gloves after their second fight, with clips doing the rounds on the internet showing the Brit with floppy gloves.
“I don’t regret it,” he said.
“I go to my grave believing what I believe in. We can believe what we want. But the eyes don’t lie. It made me even hungrier than before.”
Fury fired back: “He accused me of everything. Maybe he would have come out with one excuse it would have been believable. I beat him the first time after three years out of the ring.
“I absolutely obliterated him in the second fight. I hope you’ve got your excuse book, dosser!”
Wilder, who dropped his trainer after the last fight, said he doesn’t have more pressure on him going into this fight.
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“I don’t have nothing to prove,” he said.
“I’m in a great place. A great state of mind. It’s nothing to prove at all. Redemption, revenge, retribution.
“We’ve been going since day one, since the last outing. All the delays have been beneficial. Many people thought I was down and depressed. I couldn’t be. It wouldn’t be fair to the people around me.”
Fury called Wilder a “weak, mental person” and even accused the Alabama native of trying to be like him.
“In fact, he’s even copying me … he’s got no shirt on today … that’s my thing,” he added.
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