Tyson Fury: Wilder wanted me to hit him to get out of the fight

After the frankly predictable press conference scuffle between WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and lineal champion Tyson Fury, there’s been some talk about it all, and Fury, it seems, wasn’t a fan of the whole thing.

In fact, Fury believes Wilder wanted out of Saturday’s fight, and was trying to provoke him into physicality:

“I believe he wanted me to hit [him] today so he could get out of the fight, or get me a massive fine. But I was not going to do that. It was a just a load of rubbish really. I’m quite disappointed that it had to come to that sort of stuff, those tactics, at such a high level. I apologise for the conduct on both of our parts because tempers were high and he does need to prove a point.”

Fury (27-0, 19 KO) has never been one to avoid a confrontation or a bit of trash talk, so I’d take this all with a grain of salt. It sounds good — and sounds bad for Wilder (40-0, 39 KO) — so I’m thinking it’s just further promotion, which both men are pretty good at.

Either way, it’s a legitimately big fight, and it’s coming on Saturday, barring anything insane at Friday’s weigh-in.