The press conference for the official announcement of the third fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder was strange in ways unexpected from both men.
Wilder opened the event with a brief -- and rhyming -- statement, never taking off his headphones before sitting in his seat on the stage. After a shirtless Fury delivered his own statement about the fight -- which takes place July 24 at Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena -- a brief question and answer session began.
Wilder refused to remove his headphones or answer questions, leaving the talking to new trainer Malik Scott. This did lead to an interesting conversation between Scott and Fury over if Wilder is capable of changing his ways of being exclusively a one-punch knockout artist. Fury then offered to role play as Wilder to answer questions before the event moved along to the planned staredown.
That's when Fury and Wilder stood a few feet apart, staring at each other and refusing to move, even when they were asked to face forward for additional media photos.
Long ... pretty silent ... incredibly intense.
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 15, 2021
This staredown was nuts, even with barely any words said.#FuryWilder3 | JULY 24 | Las Vegas | PPV pic.twitter.com/CZtpwYQRGy
The silent staredown lasted for more than five minutes with the fighters not breaking eye contact and only Fury speaking at any point. The two fighters' camps did exchange words, with the situation growing increasingly tense before Wilder finally broke eye contact and walked away.
Wilder and Fury fought to a split draw in their first meeting before Fury scored a dominant seventh-round TKO in their rematch. Wilder went through arbitration to ensure his guarantee of a third fight was honored as Fury attempted to move on to a fight with Anthony Joshua to unify all four recognized world championships.
