Stephen A Smith has sent a message to Deontay Wilder regarding his decision to fight Tyson Fury.
Fury and Wilder shared one of the greatest heavyweight trilogies in recent memory, the final edition of which took place in 2021 when the Brit stopped Wilder in the eleventh round of an epic back and forth battle.
Speaking on HotBoxin’ with Mike Tyson, the broadcaster claimed Wilder jumping in with Fury was an error, simply due to the size advantage of ‘The Gypsy King.’
“I think he [Wilder] beats Joshua, but he messed up by getting in the ring against somebody 38lbs heavier than him.”
“If you remember the fight, Fury said “I’m going to beat him because he’s an idiot, I’m going to box him, lean on him and knock him out because I’m 40lbs heavier than him and there’s nothing he can do about it”
“And that’s exactly what he did.”
That third fight was Fury’s second consecutive stoppage win over Wilder after the first was scored controversially as a draw
After his loss in the second bout, Wilder accused team Fury of everything from spiking his water to tampering with gloves, seemingly unable to accept he was beaten by the better man on the night.
There was remarkable talk of a fourth between the two this April, after negotiations for a potential undisputed clash between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk collapsed.
However, Fury will instead take on MMA star Francis Ngannou on October 28 in Saudi Arabia – one of the few men who some believe has power to rival that of Wilder’s.
‘The Bronze Bomber’ is primed for an end of year blockbuster against Anthony Joshua, provided the Brit gets through his rematch with Dillian Whyte next month.
Wilder had been negotiating with former unified world heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr for a fight before then, however these talks seem to also have broken down after a lengthy back and forth.