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30 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 NOVEMBER 2018 SPORTS BOXING TYSON Fury faces Deontay Wilder for the WBC world heavyweight title in Los Angeles on December 1. The pair meet after first clashing out- side the ring in 2013, where Wilder knocked Audley Harrison out in Shef- field before the heavyweight pair said they would take each other on in a fight in the future. Fury will look to claim the one major ti- tle that has evaded his career thus far, the WBC title, in what would be his greatest win since his Düsseldorf fight of the year against Wladimir Klitschko in which he outpointed the then dominant champi- on before taking a break and facing sus- pension from the sport. Wilder is the odds on favourite to win the fight and retain his title to potentially set up an April bout with Anthony Josh- ua – but Fury has other ideas and is hop- ing to cause a shock. Here's everything you need to know. When and where is the fight? The fight takes place on 1st Decem- ber and will be at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, a venue neither fighter has fought at before. You can expect the ring walks to take place around 4am, but as ever with box- ing that is subject to change depending on how the undercard goes. What's at stake? The only major belt in professional boxing that has evaded Tyson Fury. The WBC world heavyweight title, which has been in Wilder's hands for little under four years, when he beat Bermane Stiv- erne on points to take the strap home. What are their records? Neither man has lost a single profes- sional fight. Combined, the two are 67-0. Wilder's record stands at 40 fights, 40 victories with 39 by way of knockout. He has knocked out every single man he's been in the ring with, only going the dis- tance once in his career (against Stiverne whom he later made light work of in just one round). The American has been mocked for the level of opponent that he's faced throughout his career but a devastating knockout win over Luis Ortiz in March helped put such criticism to bed. Fury is two fights into his comeback after spending two-and-a-half years out of the ring, and many have said that his fight against Wilder is coming too early into the return after easy wins over Al- banian Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pian- eta. The Gypsy King has a perfect record of 27 fights, 27 victories with 19 inside the distance. In 2015 he won the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, The Ring magazine and lineal heavyweight titles, after beating long-reigning world cham- pion Wladimir Klitschko. If he manages to beat Wilder in Decem- ber, he will have caused arguably the two biggest upsets in boxing history. What have they been saying? Fury on Wilder's ring resume: "Stiverne, a small heavyweight who was old and finished. Johann Duhaupas, a Frenchman that has no ability but tries hard. Wilder didn't hurt him once in the fight. "Eric Molina, a school teacher who got lucky - took him nine rounds to get rid of him. Artur Szpilka, who's lost all his fights by knockout even up until today; a bit of movement and he gave him prob- lems. "Gerald Washington, a football player with a bit of a jab; he gave him problems for five rounds until he landed - not a boxer though. "Then there was [Luis] Ortiz who for- getting his age, was a good man, but we know father time catches up with every- body." Wilder on his legacy: "Forget the money. I'm rich and I'm lucky but that's because I have things that money can't buy: love, peace, hap- piness. "I was always meant to be like this. I was prepared for this moment. I just think this is part of the process – it's just the beginning of what I'm going to do. "It's just a gathering of the people. It's crazy. People really listen. I want men to see that you don't have to be tough all the time. You don't have to have this persona. You can show a sensitive side. It's ok to say you love someone. I show a sensitive, caring side. I show you can be silly or goofy and still do what you want to do. People see that. "I would hate to be on the outside of boxing, running round like I do now, chanting, saying I'm the baddest man on the planet. I don't want to do that. That's not me, that's not Deontay Wilder's per- sonality. Deontay's personality just likes to be free, we have fun. I'm at peace." Fighters to go all out in WBC world heavyweight title face off Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder Deontay Wilder with his WBC heavyweight belt Tyson Fury hard at work