Deontay Wilder the shortcut as Tyson Fury opts for a one-off gamble

In less than three months Tyson Fury will attempt the most audacious grab at glory by a British heavyweight since Frank Bruno challenged Mike Tyson nearly three decades ago. While the odds are that Deontay Wilder will do to Fury in Las Vegas on 17 November what Tyson did to Bruno in the desert city on 25 February 1989, the unbeaten Mancunian magician has time and again frustrated the bookmakers, not to mention all of his 27 opponents.

Fury already has a victory of sorts in his quest. After two comeback wins against opponents as ambitious as cats in a dog fight, he has convinced his supporters, BT Sport and Showtime, that he is worth a pay-per-view shot at the WBC champion. As he sees it, he is taking the challenge that Anthony Joshua has spurned. A lot of people believe in him, partly because he is a superb salesman, but also because he has shown dedication to his craft that was missing even when he became a world champion.

Nevertheless, if Fury reaches the fifth round, it will be a considerable achievement for a fighter who has not had a proper row since he fashioned a clever if dull points win over Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf on 28 November 2015.

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Now he will attempt to conjure another magic trick against Wilder, whose one-punch power is on a par with Tyson, even if his boxing skills are not vaguely comparable. Before the former champion faded he was one smart operator, not just a knockout merchant. Wilder’s 40-0 record with 39 stoppages – statistically, at least – is as awesome as was Tyson’s 35-0 (31) the night he destroyed poor Frank, who was 32-2 that night, and who briefly rocked the champion.

Fury, whose speed, footwork and geographical awareness in the ring are probably the best in the division, would bamboozle Wilder in a pure boxing match, because the American, a latecomer to professional boxing at 22, has built his destructive arsenal of finishers over the past decade at the expense of ringcraft. He throws punches square-on, leaves his hands down and often is off-balance. But subtlety often gives way to brute power among the heavyweights.

Fury’s strength is mental. He is the most beguiling personality in boxing. In Belfast on Saturday night, the lineal champion charmed the amiable Italian Francesco Pianeta into submission over 10 forgettable rounds. And he has to be admired for the way he has whipped his body into shape after years of indulging himself in drink and drugs, to rebuild a career many in the business thought was finished.

He has done it his own way as well, leaving his uncle Peter to pick up with the little-known trainer Ben Davison, and choosing to ignore what might have been a more conventional route back on Sky.

Once his drug ban had ended, Fury was hot property again. The Matchroom supremo Eddie Hearn saw him as the logical long-term opponent for his three-belt champion Joshua and offered him a testing deal to prepare for what would be the biggest night in a British ring since AJ got off the floor to stop Klitschko in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in April 2017.

Hearn said Fury wanted low-level opponents before fighting Joshua, and was asking too much money for the big one. Speaking to IFL TV in Belfast, Fury said: “He offered me a three-fight deal. One of them was to fight an American guy, Travis Kauffman [who took Chris Arreola close over 12 rounds in 2015]. And then to fight Dillian Whyte and then fight Tony Bellew and then fight Joshua.”

That would seem a more credible route back to a world title shot than the 39-year-old career cruiser Sefer Seferi followed by peacenik Pianeta – but fair play to Fury for agreeing so quickly to the Wilder deal. His promoter, Frank Warren, has done well to manoeuvre him into such a position so quickly, although it looks like a one-off gamble rather than a career strategy. If Warren can wrap up the contract this week with Wilder’s representative, Shelly Finkel, and if Fury can deliver in November, the Gypsy King can also claim to be the Merlin of the fight game.

It is unlikely he will get a big slice of the purse, given he is fighting away from home against the champion. But he will not lack for goodwill or support from fans who have grown to believe he can perform miracles. He might yet surprise us all.

When Kevin met Herol

Kevin Mitchell (the fighter, not the writer) has been busy in his retirement, steering young boxers clear of some of the mistakes that derailed key moments of his otherwise excellent career. Widely considered alongside Herol Graham as one of the best British fighters never to win a world title, Mitchell has connected with an admirable project, The Fighting Chance, a community-based programme that aims to use “sport and boxing training to get people back into work”.

Mitchell met up with Graham in Romford recently at a photo-signing for the latter, the former world middleweight title challenger who admits he is suffering from memory loss and the effects of a long, frustrating career. Mitchell needs no reminding of the rigours of his sport. Not many people know that in the months ahead of the biggest and most disappointing night – when he lost to Michael Katsidis in front of 24,000 of his West Ham fans at Upton Park in 2010 – Mitchell was working for the London Underground. He has been candid, too, about his abuse of alcohol.

But he has never strayed from his roots and was thrilled when Fighting Chance agreed to sponsor his boy’s football team, Gidea Park Under-nines.

Mitchell, meanwhile, is excited about the prospects of the 22-year-old London featherweight Louie Lynn, who will look for a pro hat-trick in Brentwood next month. The drug that drives Mitchell now is boxing, and he is happily hooked on it.