Tyson Fury must be ruthless and nasty in disposing of Otto Wallin to line up trio of mega fights in 2020

The Gypsy King is embracing Mexican heritage ahead of the country’s independence anniversary this weekend

Tyson Fury will end his promotional singing, dancing and fighting tour of America here on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena with a homage to great Mexican boxers.

In the opposite corner, selected from boxing obscurity for his guts and blemish-free record, will be unbeaten Otto Wallin: a Swedish boxer with towering dimensions, a southpaw stance and a man looking for a jackpot in a jackpot city.

Wallin left his home in Sweden at 22, toured the fight cities of Europe compiling a record of 20 fights unbeaten and then washed up on the boxing shores of America a couple of years ago with a suitcase, a gumshield and an ambition to fight under the brightest of lights in this neon city. He is 28 now, ice-cold calm and without the delusions too many men drag with them to fights they have been selected to lose. Big Otto will be a better fighter, win or lose, after he meets Fury.

This is Fury’s final outing before a planned trio of big fights next year, a triple that looks increasingly, in this modern business of shifting allegiances and endless claims, like a fantasy sequence; Fury fights and beats Deontay Wilder in February, gives the American a rematch in July and then fights either Anthony Joshua or Andy Ruiz late next year. It looks ridiculous, but stranger things have happened and there is certainly a growing feeling of discontent at fights that matter not getting made.

There is no simple solution to the uncertainty and conflict of the heavyweight division, a division wrapped in spirits and folklore, but a series of real fights will certainly help. “I have the fights signed and sealed - they will happen,” insisted Fury. “I hope Wilder accepts the third fight.” Wilder is meant to fight in November, a dangerous rematch with Luis Ortiz, and that fight is starting to look less and less likely. The rematch with Fury, this time in Las Vegas, is done, made, signed.

It has been a strange week here in the middle of the convention calendar, another week where people have continued to fall in love with Fury, his openness, his relentless good spirits. Exhaust and tyre specialists from Idaho have stopped for pictures. Even Wallin and his people have been bemused by Fury’s approach to the fight. It is easy to neglect one of boxing’s old truths about flattery being a danger when Fury walks from love and applause to universal praise. In boxing, especially heavyweight boxing, flattery and delusion, can be as solid in the eager ears of fighters as a bag full of diamonds and gold in their hands. Wallin has to be careful not to be lost in awe and Fury must make sure he remembers the old dangers of a sport he has mastered.

Wallin will need to use his southpaw jab, forget Fury’s chin and just find distance by bashing away at the chest and the gloves. Wallin needs to somehow make Fury think, keep switching positions, be mindful of his own chin and at the same time force the fight. It is a bit like asking him to use three hands and three feet at Twister and complete a Rubik’s Cube with his toes at the same time. Wallin does have some strong boxing people in his gang and they should be able to control his emotions once the hour approaches and he is suddenly in a highly volatile place he has never been before.

Boxers Tyson Fury (L) and Otto Wallin pose (Getty Images)

Fury has to look good in a fight that some will be critical of; Fury’s fights in this desert city have been about profile, getting inside American homes, showing the public here what the big lad can do and preparing them for glory next year. Fury looks and sounds nasty to me and I’m not expecting a lot of mercy once the first bell dings. He will win the WBC’s newly minted Mayan belt, having adopted his Mexican disguise to become El Rey de los Gitanos. It is his latest mask.

On Wednesday night here I met with Gene Kilroy, one of the city’s finest raconteurs and one of the last keepers of boxing’s great oral tradition. Kilroy was Muhammad Ali’s friend, his facilitator and he is the final living member of the inner circle. He was the first man in the ring after the Rumble in the Jungle, carried the coffins at the funerals of Ali’s parents - yeah, Kilroy really was there.

Kilroy told me a story, he always tells me a story: When Ali met Jean-Pierre Coopman, The Lion of Flanders, in Puerto Rico for the heavyweight world title in 1976, everybody knew the outcome. Coopman was done in the fifth, his bank balance changed forever, his life never to be the same. “He’d shared the ring with Ali,” Gene explained. Anyway, at 2am, Ali and Kilroy were in Ali’s hotel room and there was a knock at the door. “You order room service, Gene?” Ali asked. Kilroy went to the door, opened it and there stood Coopman and his wife, the boxing king and queen of Belgium. Kilroy invited them in. “Thank you, thank you,” said Coopman. “You gave me a chance, you changed my life.” Wallin will be ringing a bell at 2am after the fight - Fury will be accepting the praise.