Tyson Fury is planning to finish a boxing master class with an emphatic knockout when he fights Deontay Wilder for the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title at the Los Angeles Staples Center on Saturday.
The 30-year-old Briton is unbeaten in 27 fights and has 19 knockout victories, but his last stoppage win came against Joey Abell in 2014.
Wilder has claimed 39 knockouts in 40 fights but was almost knocked out in his last fight against 39-year-old Cuban Luis Ortiz in March, when he climbed off the canvas in the seventh round to claim a 10th round victory.
Fury, who outboxed Wladimir Klitschko to become a four-belt heavyweight world champion in 2015, is aiming for a more thrilling and spectacular finish to his second championship contest. "I'm going to box his face off and then I'm going to knock him out," Fury said. "I'm looking to drop him like a tree. He will be known as the guy who got knocked out by Tyson Fury after this fight. And he's going to get the best Tyson Fury there's ever been. "You're going to see a different Wilder. He knows he's going to lose but if he wants a scrap, let's go to war, no problem. I was born to fight. This is normal to me."
The heavyweight giants clashed at their final press conference on Wednesday, leading Fury to believe the reigning WBC titleholder is nervous. However, Wilder claims he sensed a weakness in Fury when they came face to face. "I've beat every man by knockout. You've seen it every fight. And I can see the fear in him," Wilder said. "The thing about fear is you can sense it and you can smell it. I know what fear looks like. I can identify it. "He's scared and he should be. I'm very dangerous. The most dangerous in the sport. I've never doubted myself or not done what I've said I was going to do."
Fury disappeared for three years after beating Klitschko into a dark world of drug abuse, suicidal depression and excessive weight gain. He was stripped of his titles as punishment for his actions. However, the unbeaten former champion says he will not go back down that road, even though anything less than an emphatic triumph over Wilder will not satisfy him. "What I've been through and the state I got myself in, it's a victory in itself just to be here," said Fury. "Losing is not an option for me because I need to keep winning to inspire people out of their struggles. "But if I don't beat Deontay Wilder, I obviously ain't no good. I think I can beat Wilder comfortably. If I win against Wilder in a close fight, I would class that as a loss."
Wilder has a relaxed attitude towards a possibility of losing because he backs himself to come back like some of the former greats. "I'm not afraid to lose my record or my reputation," Wilder said. "I don't plan for the idea to stay undefeated because I know I can lose and come back. Muhammad Ali was the greatest of all time and he lost five times." "Everyone gets tired of a winner eventually. Everyone wants to see me lose but they will be waiting a long time."