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Mike Coppinger
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Brett Okamoto
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ESPN Staff Writer- MMA columnist for ESPN.com
- Analyst for “MMA Live”
- Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun
Tyson Fury defends his WBC heavyweight world title and the heavyweight lineal championship against Deontay Wilder on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN+ PPV, 9 p.m. ET, with preliminary fights starting at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 and ESPN+).
Fury won the title from Wilder with a seventh-round TKO victory in February 2020, the rematch of a disputed split draw back in 2018, when Fury got up from the canvas in Round 12 to finish the fight.
Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs), 33, of Manchester, England, has promised another KO victory and said he will send Wilder to an early retirement.
“Wilder is a weak person mentally, and I’m going to knock him out on Saturday night,” Fury said during a news conference on Wednesday. “I obliterated him in the rematch, and I see much more of the same in the third fight.
“He’s in denial, and he’s getting knocked out. His legacy is in bits. I knocked him out, and now I’m going to retire him.”
Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs), 35, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, said the fight Saturday will be one to remember and is confident he will be on top this time around.
“I don’t have anything to prove,” Wilder said. “I’m in a great place and in a great state of mind. I have a lot of great people around me. This fight is about redemption, retaliation and retribution.
“Saturday night is going to be a different fight. It’s rare that we get trilogies like this, and I truly believe this one is going down in history.”
Also on the card, heavyweight power puncher Efe Ajagba takes on Frank Sanchez in a 10-round heavyweight battle and Jared Anderson takes on Vladimir Tereshkin in an eight-round heavyweight bout. Super middleweight Edgar Berlanga, who saw his 16-fight KO streak end back in April, returns to face Marcelo Esteban Coceres in a 10-round fight.
Stay here for live undercard results and analysis.
Next fight: Bruce Carrington vs. Cesar Cantu, 4 rounds, featherweights
Results:
Viktor Faust def. Mike Marshall by third-round TKO
Fight recap coming up …
Still to come:
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Title fight: Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder, 12 rounds, for Fury’s WBC heavyweight title
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Efe Ajagba vs. Frank Sanchez, 10 rounds, heavyweights
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Robert Helenius vs. Adam Kownacki, 12 rounds, heavyweights
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Jared Anderson vs. Vladimir Tereshkin, 8 rounds, heavyweights
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Edgar Berlanga vs. Marcelo Esteban Coceres, 10 rounds, super middleweights
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Julian Williams vs. Vladimir Hernandez, 10 rounds, junior middleweights
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Robeisy Ramirez vs. Orlando Gonzalez, 10 rounds, featherweights