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WBC and lineal heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury fired back at retired boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Saturday after the American offered to help train Deontay Wilder to beat Fury in their presumed third fight later this year.
“Floyd Mayweather, no matter what you teach him, I will smash him,” Fury posted.
.@FloydMayweather no matter what you teach him, I will smash him 😉
Mayweather Offered to Help Wilder Beat Fury
Fury’s post was in response to Mayweather saying he’d be happy to train Wilder for what would be his third fight against Fury.
Per Daily Mail, Mayweather revealed during a recent Q&A session on his UK tour that he could help Wilder beat Fury.
“If I train him, I can teach him how to win,” Mayweather said.
But Fury didn’t agree with Mayweather’s suggestion.
Why would he? The 32-year-old stopped Wilder in the seventh round back in February in a savage one-sided beatdown.
It was a far cry from what happened when the two fighters met for the first time back in December 2018.
Fury outboxed Wilder for the majority of that fight, but the hard-hitting American scored two knockdowns to knot the judges at ringside all three ways for the split-draw.
But Fury was the one to score the knockdowns in the second fight, and Wilder simply appeared to be outclassed just about every minute of the fight.
So Fury believes he’ll do the same or worse to Wilder in the third bout.
Fury Holds Prestigious Heavyweight Titles
The stunning stoppage win in the rematch netted Fury the WBC title belt to go along with his status as boxing’s lineal heavyweight champion. Fury is also hailed the heavyweight champion per The Ring magazine and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
After the Fury vs. Wilder rematch, though, Wilder enacted his rematch clause to force the trilogy. The third fight was originally supposed to happen over the summer before the COVID-19 pandemic halted sports action across the globe, but now the fight could happen as late as February 2021.
Judging by Mayweather’s offer to help train Wilder, the 50-0 American believes he could be the person to help Wilder turn the tide.
Wilder is one of the hardest punching heavyweight champions in boxing history and an incredible athlete, so Mayweather would at least have that to work with if the two hook up before the third fight.
But Fury Doesn’t Hold All Meaningful Heavyweight Titles
Fury doesn’t wear all the meaningful heavyweight title belts in boxing.
The four major alphabet organizations in professional boxing are the WBA, WBO, WBC and IBF.
Fury holds the WBC belt only.
Fury is also called the “lineal” heavyweight champion by some boxing fans and media because he technically never lost the lineal championship he won by defeating Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
Fury was also crowned as the heavyweight champion by two separate media panels: The Ring magazine and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
But Anthony Joshua holds the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight title belts.
So while Fury is most likely heading into a third showdown against Wilder due to a contractual option, the most important fight that could happen in boxing’s glamour division would be between Fury and Joshua.
The winner of Fury vs. Joshua would crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis pulled it off back in 1999.
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