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Tyson Fury Interrupts Deontay Wilder's Celebration

Wilder scored a devastating knockout over Polish boxer Artur Szpilka on Saturday night. But, Tyson Fury stole the headlines by demanding a fight against the WBC world heavyweight champ.

Deontay Wilder scored yet another crushing KO victory over a fellow heavyweight on Saturday night. This time it was against Polish boxer Artur Szpilka, boosting his record to 36-0 with 35 of those wins coming by knockout.

The fight wasn't straightforward for the giant American. Wilder, standing in at six-foot-seven, was having trouble with the smaller southpaw in Szpilka. Some in the media had Szpilka winning the fight up until the tumultuous ninth round and the CompuBox stats showed there was little differentiating the two fighters, though it later turned out the judges had Wilder edging the fight on the scorecards, leading 78-74, 78-74, 77-75.

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For all of Wilder's technical flaws, there is no doubting his ability to end a fight without a moment's notice—one of the more exciting aspects to heavyweight pugilism. This gift, evidenced in his impressive wins-to-knockout ratio, cannot be taught and is quickly earning the former 2008 Olympic bronze medallist the status as a must-see competitor.

Saturday was no different. With the shorter Szpilka barging his way through Wilder's defense to land punches in the pocket, he was well within range of "The Bronze Bomber"—and he well and truly paid for it with the wild, looping right hand of Wilder.

Simply, it was one of the more vicious knockouts one could witness, with the Pole not moving an inch for minutes until medical personnel took control of the situation and carried Szpilka out on a stretcher. After undergoing an evaluation at a hospital near Brooklyn, NY's Barclays Center, it was announced later that Szpilka had recovered.

While showing respect and concern for the downed Szpilka, this was a time for celebration for Wilder having made his third defence of the WBC world heavyweight championship. However, amidst all of this, Tyson Fury watched the fight from ringside before entering the ring to confront Wilder—perhaps at the behest of promoters, or because it's Tyson Fury and he seemingly does whatever he wants, whenever he wants.

Labelling Wilder a bum, as well as breaking out into impromptu song as he so regularly does, Fury provided the American public with their first real taste of the polarising persona of the "Gypsy King", despite Fury having already knocked out Steve Cunningham in Madison Square Garden back in 2013—his sole fight in the States thus far.

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Nose to nose, both Wilder and Fury traded barbs in their quick confrontation. Wilder didn't take kindly to Fury's WWE antics, later telling Sky Sports: "I've been waiting on him for a long time and they know where to find me. When the time comes—and the time will come—he'd better be ready because I will be looking to seek, kill and destroy him—and I do mean real bad. Hurting him, real, real, real, real bad."

So it would appear that both men are angling for the fight. That's obvious as it will certainly sell a lot of pay-per-views in both the UK and over in the States wherever it's hosted, with both men claiming they're happy to fight on either guy's back yard.

But, why is this all happening now? With Fury accepting the rematch against Wladimir Klitschko and Wilder making his mandatory WBC title defence against Russian boxer Alexander Povetkin later this year—two fights which are both capable of seeing new champions crowned—the Fury and Wilder fight is a long way off.

The in-ring confrontation was entertaining and grabbed the headlines from the gullible sports press—more so than Wilder's Knockout of the Year contender itself. However, the early war of words reeks of promotional plastic: it all seems a little inauthentic and disingenuous, only serving as promotional video to hype up the fight should these two men overcome their next two opponents and eventually meet in the squared circle.

Wilder's undoubted KO power and Fury's mouth alone can sell the fight without set-ups like this.