Hall of Fame Boxing Analyst Al Bernstein Previews Wilder vs. Fury

Saturday marks a big day for sports fans in Tuscaloosa as the Crimson Tide plays for a Southeastern Conference title in Atlanta while a native son gets in the ring for the biggest fight of his life.

Deontay Wilder is set to square off against Tyson Fury Saturday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

During Thursday's edition of The Gary Harris Show, legendary boxing analyst for Showtime Al Bernstein chimed in on this weekend's fight.

Although Wilder enters the match with a perfect 40-0 record including 39 knockouts, the Tuscaloosa native continues to find traction as a star figure in the heavyweight circuit. Bernstein listed a primary issue facing the boxing relative to media coverage.

"Part of it is that boxing in general is covered less by the mainstream sports media than it used to be." Bernstein said.

With the exception of Wilder vs. Ortiz, Bernstein listed the lack of high-profiled fights as a reason that Wilder has struggled to gain notoriety with casual boxing fans.

"He hasn't been in a fight that the casual sports fan, the casual boxing fan, has had a chance to dig into." Bernstein said.

The Showtime boxing analyst does believe Saturday night's bout can help Wilder expand his brand to a wider audience.

"This fight (Wilder vs. Fury) is supposed to be that fight because of Tyson Fury coming over here and creating this kind of excitement." Bernstein said.

Concerning Saturday's match, Bernstein noted a characteristic that while normally favoring WIlder actually favors Fury.

"One of the interesting factors of this fight is that this is the first time Deontay Wilder is facing a fighter that is taller than him." Bernstein said. "Wilder is 6'7". Fury is 6'9"." Bernstein said.

The hall of fame analyst laid out the likely scenarios for both a Wilder and Fury victory.

"The more likely scenario is that if Wilder wins, he does it through power, and if Tyson Fury should win this fight, he will do it because he compressed every round and won round by round." Bernstein said.

Catch The Gary Harris Show every weekday from 9-11 AM on Tide 102.9/100.9 and the Tide 102.9 app.