Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder: American accused of starting press conference melee with ‘eye poke’

A video posted on the Frank Warren Twitter account accused WBC heavyweight champion Wilder of poking Fury in the eye during their press conference face-off

Deontay Wilder has been accused of sparking the press conference melee that saw his entourage clash with Tyson Fury’s by poking the former heavyweight champion in the eye.

Wednesday’s press conference ended in farcical scenes as a topless Fury confronted a roaring Wilder, while the many in each boxer’s corner pushed and shoved each over on stage over a predictably mundane flare-up.

As Wilder continuously bellowed in Fury’s face during the stare-down, Fury bobbed his head from side to side, only for contact between them to spark an on-stage melee.

The pair had to be separated as others flooded the stage to square-off, although no punches were thrown and the scrap was widely panned as part of the predictable build-up to raise the intensity of Saturday’s WBC heavyweight bout.

But a tweet sent out from Frank Warren's Twitter account, who is promoting Fury for the fight, showed a video of the incident and accused Wilder of causing the melee as he “appeared to poke Fury in the eye”.

“Here is the exact moment the trouble began as @BronzeBomber appeared to poke @Tyson_Fury in the eye during their face off,” the post read.

The tweet, which appeared on Wednesday night on the account that Warren does not control, was later deleted.

Nothing came of the shoving match as the two were kept apart, before Fury removed his shirt and posed for the cameras while Wilder continued to try and get his hands on the former WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion.

Speaking afterwards though, Fury said that he knew he was being baited by Wilder and insisted he was “not that stupid” to do something that would lead to a subsequent fine – or even worse.

“I believe Wilder wanted me to aim the left hook so that the fight would be cancelled,” Fury said.

“He wanted to trick me into hitting him so that he could get out of the fight. I’m not going to make that mistake; I’m not going to lose my purse.

“He knows he can’t win and it’s clear for everyone to see now. He’s a very nervous character and by the looks of it he doesn’t want to fight. He talks a good game but he talks nonsense really.

“He wanted me to get a massive fine but I’m not that stupid. He’s rattled and he knows he’s getting an a*** kicking.”

Warren accused Wilder of poking Fury in the eye during the press conference (Action Images via Reuters)

“Wilder’s nervous; he felt he needed to scream and shout and make threats.

“We’re fighting men but he had his big team there.

“We’re not afraid of anyone, if you want to fight on the street or the stage that’s fine, but we’re here to do a job for sport and be professional.”