Deontay Wilder in "amazing shape" ahead of Tyson Fury trilogy bout
Former WBC world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder with his belt
Can Wilder level the series and avenge his defeat to Fury?
Undefeated Nigerian heavyweight Raphael Akpejiori has asserted his belief that Deontay Wilder will win his rematch with Tyson Fury, provided he stays the course with his training programme.
Akpejiori is part of the training team preparing Wilder for arguably the biggest fight of the American's career having been taken under the wing of the Bronze Bomber.
The 6-0 "Nigerian Hurricane" has been identified as a prospective sparring partner for Wilder, due in part to his size and strength.
With the inside track on Wilder's preparations in Miami, he says that the Alabama-based heavyweight will avenge his first professional defeat suffered at the hands of Fury, provided he sticks to the plan.
"Based on what I know, the only person that can beat Deontay right now, is Deontay," Akpejiori told Sky Sports."He will beat Fury if he sticks to the game plan from his coaching staff, and I know that he has all the physical tools.
"Right now he is in amazing physical shape, that I can tell you for sure. You will see a completely different Deontay, mentally and physically in the ring, when that bell rings again for that third fight. That I can tell you."
Bronze Bomber is fighting fit
Akpejiori rubbished rumours that Wilder's training has been affected by injury saying the former WBC heavyweight champion was ready to fight Fury in July.
"You're going to have to wait for Deontay to break it down and address those rumours," said Akpejiori.
"Listen, I can tell you from my conversations with Deontay that he was ready to fight Tyson Fury in July.
"The only reason why he didn't fight Tyson Fury in July, was because the fight was moved due to the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown that came after that.
"He does the same workouts that we've been doing. I don't know how somebody can be injured and do all that. It's really hard stuff, I can tell you that for sure."
Wilder focused on Fury
The 29-year-old Nigerian who played football and basketball for the University of Miami, has been close to Wilder since 2017 and says he has never seen the fighter as focused as he is right now.
"Oh yeah, he definitely is [focused on Fury]," said Akpejiori. "You can really tell that's all he's thinking about, from just talking. We talk about a whole lot of other things, personal stuff, boxing promotional stuff.
"But concerning fighting Tyson Fury, he's extremely confident. He's very excited about that third fight. I can tell you for sure that he's very hungry, and he's trying to get back into the ring as soon as possible. He's in great spirits, excited to get back to fight Tyson Fury."
Fury vs Wilder III is tentatively scheduled to take place on 19 December in Las Vegas.
