Tyson Fury tricked Deontay Wilder with ‘mind game’ at weigh-in before knockout, former trainer Ben Davison claims

Tyson Fury shocked the boxing world by revolutionizing his style and knocking out Deontay Wilder in their second fight.

The Briton had previously developed a reputation as an elusive, back-footed boxer – having fought that way to beat Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, and also during his controversial 2018 draw with Wilder in their first fight, which many felt he deserved to win.

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However, in the final round of that first fight, Fury took center stage and managed to attack Wilder after being significantly dropped himself.

Learning from this success, he completely changes his style for their revenge.

Fury took the fight to Wilder for the second time, knocking him down, putting him on the ground twice and stopping him in the seventh round.

The Gypsy King was trained by Ben Davison in 2018, but by the time of the second clash with Wilder in 2020, he had changed trainers to SugarHill Steward (while remaining close friends with Davison).

This allowed Davison to provide insight into Fury’s approach and he told talkSPORT after the rematch: “It was a bit like the 13th round.

“Wilder didn’t look very confident and Tyson had actually told me a long time ago that he was looking to get off to a fast start.

“Start fast and reimplement everything in Wilder’s mind and it worked wonders because when Tyson took Wilder’s right hand, Tyson believed he could take Wilder’s power.

“He took a right hand in the first round and went right back at Wilder and I think that just increased the doubts that started in the twelfth round of the last fight and it kind of went from there. “

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Davison also said he was certain Fury played mind games with Wilder by arriving with a false weight at the weigh-in, although he did not explain how Fury achieved this.

The Briton had weighed 256½ pounds (18st 4lb 8oz) for their first encounter, but rose to a whopping 273lbs (19st 7lb) before the second fight.

Wilder was three stone lighter than Fury at 231lb (16st 7lb), and that may have played on his mind in the final 24 hours before the clash.

Davison said: “Personally I believe it was a fabricated weight on (Fury’s) scales. I don’t think it was that heavy.

“I believe it was part of the mind games going on. I know Tyson, I know his body and I don’t think he was that heavy – in fact, I know he wasn’t that heavy.

“I believe his morning weight was more like 18st 8lbs/18st 9lbs (260lbs/261lbs). And obviously, throughout the day, as you eat and drink, your weight will increase.

“But I believe the weight he stopped at on the scale was a fabricated weight that was part of mental games – of which he is the master.”

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