Billy Joe Saunders reveals conversation with Tyson Fury which led to him taking Deontay Wilder fight back in 2018
Billy Joe Saunders has revealed Tyson Fury decided to take the Deontay Wilder fight following a conversation they shared back in 2018.
When the ‘Gypsy King’ made his return against Sefer Seferi in June of that year, he and promoter Frank Warren expressed a desire to have four tune-up bouts before challenging at the top level again.
Fury dared to be great against Wilder
However, in the build-up to his second fight back against Francesco Pianeta, Fury changed his mind.
Negotiations for a unification between Wilder and Anthony Joshua failed and he saw this as an opportunity to make a statement.
In the end, he signed to face Wilder in December of 2018 and many felt he won the bout.
This eventually led to their 2020 rematch which the Brit won with a conclusive seventh-round stoppage.
Saunders and Fury are both travellers and both world champions
Asked to describe his relationship with Fury, Saunders said on The Athletic’s Pug and Copp podcast: “Listen, we talk about plenty of sex.
“We talk about horses, our gypsy roots, our way of life, back in the amateur days.
“Me and Tyson are really good friends, we’ve been friends for years. So we talk mainly s*** to be honest.
“To be fair, we don’t really talk a lot of boxing, only when we’ve got fights coming up and when he made the Wilder fight.
Wilder knocked Fury down twice in their first fight, but many still believed Fury did enough to win
“When the Wilder fight was getting made he rang me and said, ‘What do you think?’
“I said, ‘Look, there’s two ways of looking at it. You could go in there and get knocked out or you could be sensible, go in there and look a million dollars – it’s a dare to be great move.’
“I said, ‘It’s your choice. You can beat him seven days a week and twice on Sunday, but you need to turn up and you need to be on it, simple.’
“And he went to me, ‘I’m gonna dare to be great.’
Fury floored Wilder twice before their rematch was ended in round seven
“So I said, ‘That’s a good decision and I back ya.’
“Then he rang up Frank Warren and he went, ‘Yeah, go on, I’ll accept the fight, get it made.’
“That’s how easy he is to make a fight with. He’s not a hard man to make a fight with.
“There were talks ongoing in America, he rang me for two minutes and he’ll tell you the same story.
“He rang up and made the fight.”
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