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Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder Had a Hilariously Fake Press Conference Faceoff

In Thursday’s Hot Clicks: Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder go full kayfabe, the NFL floats a new playoff format and more.

Dan Gartland

Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder Had a Hilariously Fake Press Conference Faceoff
Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder Had a Hilariously Fake Press Conference Faceoff /

Tyson Fury learned a little something from his time in WWE

Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury point fingers at each other during a shoving match their pre-fight weigh-in
Isaac Brekken/AP/Shutterstock

The big fight coming up this weekend between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder is borrowing a few pages from the pro wrestling playbook. 

First of all, the only reason these guys are even fighting again is because their first fight was rigged to end in a draw. Any fan with half a brain could see they were getting (in wrestling parlance) “worked.” The fight itself was on the level but the judging seemed awfully suspicious, and so we got a much-hyped (and very lucrative) rematch. 

In between the two fights with Wilder, Fury actually got involved in a fight everyone knows is fake: a match in Saudi Arabia with WWE’s Braun Strowman. In the lead-up to the match, Fury and Strowman mixed it up in and out of the ring to build anticipation. It was stupid, but people bought in. 

Maybe that’s why Fury looked so comfortable when he and Wilder engaged in some extremely fake pushing and shoving during yesterday’s press conference.

That’s straight from Wrestling 101, right down to the security guys stepping in to break things up. That segment would not have seemed out of place on AEW or NXT later that night. They made it look real enough but it was so formulaic that anyone who’s had even a little bit of exposure to wrestling could spot how contrived it was. We’ve seen what happens when two fighters who legitimately don’t like each other square off at a weigh-in. Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier sparked an all-out brawl at a press conference before UFC 178. 

Wilder and Fury, meanwhile, just went through the motions. They looked like two guys trying to emulate what they’ve seen at other weigh-ins. 

The pay-per-view is $79.99 on ESPN+ this Saturday if their performance convinced you to tune in. Or you could pay $49.99 next weekend for the AEW’s Revolution pay-per-view if you want to see some guys pretend to be mad at each other in an actually interesting way. 

New NFL playoff format coming?

Are you ready for some (more) football? 

According to Adam Schefter, the version of new NFL collective bargaining agreement being pushed by owners includes not only a 17th regular season game but also an expanded playoff format. 

Under that format, seven teams from each conference would qualify for the playoffs but only one would receive a first-round bye. That means there would be six games on the first weekend of the playoffs. 

Aside from the increased chances of a 7–9 team qualifying for the playoffs, I don’t have an issue with that postseason format. It would make the race for the top seed even more compelling and increase excitement in the final weeks of the season as more teams fight for that final spot. 

What I don’t like is the 17th game. The NFL has the best regular season format of any American sport. A 32-team league divided into two conferences, each with four four-team divisions, playing a 16-game schedule. It’s wonderfully symmetrical. 

But it’s important to remember that this is just a proposal. It’s just a negotiating stance for the owners. The players will have a chance to counter and could very well end up getting the league to agree to institute only one of the changes. 

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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