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https://www.boxingscene.com/dibella-wilder-fury-energized-division-either-one-beats-joshua--134281
DiBella: Wilder-Fury Energized Division, Either One Beats Joshua
On Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Deontay Wilder retained his WBC heavyweight title after a thrilling split decision draw with Britain's Tyson Fury before 17,698 fans.
The hard-hitting Wilder knocked Fury down twice, including a brutal right-left combination that sent the towering Fury to the canvas in the 12th in what initially looked to be the end of the fight.
But the 'Gypsy King' willed himself to his feet and held on to send the fight to the judges, who rewarded him for controlling much of the fight behind his long jab, precise footwork and slippery defense.
One judge scored the fight 115-111 to Wilder, another 114-112 to Fury and the third had it 113-113.
The scorecards showed that Wilder benefited greatly from his two knockdowns in the ninth and the 12th, which all three judges scored 10-8 in favor of the champion.
Lou DiBella, who promoted several of Wilder's fights, agreed that the Fury rematch should take priority, making the case that Wilder and Fury are the two best heavyweights in the division.
He believes either fighter would defeat the third heavyweight of the current triangle - IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO world champion Anthony Joshua, who returns to the ring on April 13th at Wembley in London.
"This fight has energized the division," DiBella said. "We've got an American heavyweight champion that Americans can be proud of. And there's two guys in Great Britain that are great champions.
"I'm not denigrating anybody but I think the two guys tonight would beat the third guy (Joshua)."
Wilder believed he had knocked Fury out. DiBella admitted he had already started climbing towards the ring in expectation the fight was over.
"Very few men in the history of boxing can pop up like that," DiBella said.
"Tyson's eyes rolled in his head. (When he got up) I was sitting there going 'Oh my god. Holy sh*t'."