• Boxing.Wilder and Fury, pushing before the great heavyweight fight: "With my fists I will shut up his mouth"
  • Combat.Wilder-Fury, a whole "unfinished theme" for the other heavyweight crown

The unsportsmanlike show that starred on Wednesday, the American fighter Deontay Wilder and the Englishman Tyson Fury during the last press conference prior to their fight rematch for the world heavyweight title, forced the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Thursday to prohibit "face to face" after weighing.

The event is scheduled for this Friday at 15:00 local time in Las Vegas (23:00 gmt) and is the last before the fight that will be played on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas (Nevada).

Wilder (42-0-1, 41 out of combat) is the current heavyweight monarch, World Boxing Council (WBC) version, and Fury (29-0-1, 20 fast track wins) the linear champion.

"The reason the decision was made, on behalf of the commission, is because what happened during the press conference speaks for itself," said Thursday the executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, Bob Bennett.

As soon as Fury joined Wilder on stage to start the last pre-fight press conference the two fighters faced a face-to-face that ended in physical confrontation between the two boxers and forced security personnel to intervene to keep them separated.

"The actions of the two fighters pushing, which was not organized, is not indicative of the image of our sport that is part of the elite, so having a confrontation is not the best for the health and safety of the boxers , the fans and the event, "said Bennett.

Bennett explained to reporters that last night he spoke with the president of the commission, Anthony Marnell III, and informed him of his intention to cancel the "face to face" after the weigh-in. Marnell, according to Bennett, supported the idea of ​​the cancellation, and communicated it to Wilder promoter Tom Brown of TGB Promotions.

While this morning, Bennet also met with Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, co-promoter of Fury, and both "agreed."

Bennett's argument about the ban is not only to avoid another "unfortunate" spectacle that harms the image of boxing, but does not jeopardize the fight itself. "I will not endanger the public, the fighters or the event because everyone is waiting for a spectacular evening," Bennett said. "This decision is aimed at favoring all the actors involved in the fight."

For his part, Arum admitted that it was an unprecedented decision in the sport of boxing, but that he supported it.

"If this fight depends on a confrontation in the" face to face "to sell it, we have not done our job," said Arum. "They will take pictures, they just won't face each other."

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