THE BIGGEST HEAVYWEIGHT fight for many a long year is now fast approaching and some people have expressed surprise over the short amount of time Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder have spent in each other’s company across the build-up to the big night in Las Vegas on February 22.

Simply re-running the frenetic media schedule of the original encounter was never really going to serve any great purpose because they now know each other so well and it would just be going over old ground for the sake of it.

What they haven’t been doing is sitting idle outside of training hours. Both have been out there banging the drum across US networks and events, just not together.

Since linking up with ESPN, along with BT Sport, Tyson has embarked on a promotional mission to elevate public awareness of his personality and talent and, you have to say, he has done a bloody good job of it.

There can hardly be anyone in the States, even with the remotest interest in sport, who doesn’t know the name Tyson Fury by now and he has put in the miles and done the glad-handing across numerous platforms to build the fight.

I’ve heard it said that a lack of joint media work is advantage Wilder, with the thinking being that Tyson got in his head last time around.

Maybe so. What I do know is that Tyson will choose his moment to strike and, believe me, Wilder is far from off the hook in that respect.

Wilder didn’t know if he was fighting his best mate or worst enemy last time. One minute he was being his mate and the next verbally dismantling him.

Tyson will choose his moment before fight night and do what he’s got to do.

It was relatively sedate when they came together last week and Tyson, who played it cool, said to me that he felt it all went ok from his point of view.

He seems in a fine frame of mind and is well on it. That is where he’s got to keep it.

His change of trainer to SugarHill Steward has planted doubts in the mind of some after parting from Ben Davison, who did an excellent job in bringing him back.

Personally, I don’t have an issue with the switch in terms of how it will affect the fight. Nobody had really heard of Ben until Tyson brought him in and he’s got enough experience to know what he is doing.

I am not sure how many people believed our man when he categorically stated he was going to ambush Wilder from the off and finish him inside two rounds.

That isn’t typical Tyson but if he sets about him anything can happen. So we will see.

It would be unlike him to go for the jugular but Tyson has it in him to change things up. What can Deontay do any different? He can’t and we have seen that in every fight he’s had. What he has got is absolutely stunning and dangerous, but he is not going to outbox Tyson, is he?

ON THE SUBJECT of great heavyweight fights, the biggest one on the domestic front is coming along nicely and hopefully we will be in a position to share some good news in the not too distant future.

Daniel Dubois v Joe Joyce is an absolute banger of a fight between two heavyweights of enormous potential and pedigree. It is the biggest fight to be made for either of them so it needs to happen.

I hear the argument over where would be left for Joe to go should he be defeated by a much younger man in Daniel. It is nonsense to say it would be fatal for his career.

Joe is a top-drawer operator, an elite amateur who has taken the plunge right from the beginning in the professional game. It is never a just a loss that affects a fighter’s prospects, it is how you lose and who against.

There would be no shame in losing to Daniel, or vice-versa. If you make a big fight that the public want to see then somebody has got to lose on the majority of occasions.

In any case, certainly in the heavyweight division, one win and you are right back in the thick of it. You put it down to experience and the proof of the pudding is someone like Dereck Chisora, who has had multiple opportunities to come again.

What is for sure is there would be no turning back for either Daniel or Joe once this fight is in place. It will be big, meaningful fights all the way to the top for our big fellas.