‘I’ll run him over like I’m an 18-wheeler’: Fury makes bold prediction for Wilder trilogy clash ahead of intense staredown (VIDEO)

Boxers Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder were involved in the longest staredown in the history of the sport on Tuesday, as they met for the first time ahead of their third championship encounter in Las Vegas next month.

Wearing a pair of headphones throughout, Wilder thanked his legal team for delivering a third fight via an arbitration ruling and kept it short and sweet by rapping: "Enough has been said. It’s time to cut off his head. Come July the 24th, there will be bloodshed."

Bizarrely, he refused to answer questions despite being there to promote the bout he has pushed so hard for.

Wilder's intervention ruled out a best-of-British unification clash between WBC ruler Fury and Anthony Joshua, which had been scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia.

While there was no mention of that situation, Wilder's silence paved the way for 'The Gypsy King' to make his typically bold predictions against little protest.

"I gave my game plan away the last time because he wasn't good enough to do anything about it," Fury remarked. "I'll do the same thing this time.

"Wilder is a one-trick pony. What will I do this time? I'll run him over like I'm an 18-wheeler.

"I guarantee he does not go past where he did before," Fury vowed, in reference to the seventh round TKO beating he put on the Alabama native in their second clash in February last year.

"Before, I only had five or six weeks practicing what to do to him. This time, I've had 18 months.

"I'm building my weight up, trying to get up to 300lbs, because I'm looking for a big knockout straight away."

"I don't believe he's mentally, physically or emotionally involved."

"He's doing this for the wrong reasons and, when people do that, they wind up getting hurt."

In the first fight in Las Vegas, Fury had come off a two-year drink and drugs lay-off where he battled depression and come close to ending his life.

Still out of shape, he was knocked down twice by Wilder but managed to rise off the canvas in dramatic fashion.

Then changing trainers and heading to the iconic Kronk gym in Detroit, he is now under the tutelage of SugarHill Steward, who commented that Fury "now has power to knock a man out with one punch".

"That's something I'm happy he has now, along with his other boxing skills and his boxing IQ. He has one-punch knockout power," Steward explained further.

Furious that Mark Breland threw in the towel to put him out of his misery last time out, Wilder has likewise switched mentor, and was dubbed "disloyal" by Fury for taking on Malik Scott.

Yet despite a change of corner, Fury predicts that Wilder will go back to his old ways once the heat is on. 

"Deontay is stubborn. No matter what Malik Scott tells him to do, Deontay will do what he wants," he said, which caused Scott to reply: "That's wrong."

"In a real fight he will revert back to type. As soon as I hit him with my first right hand, he will see red and think: 'I need to take his head off'," Fury doubled down.

"You're a one-punch knockout artist?," Scott asked. "There is no history of you knocking somebody out with one punch."

Reminding Scott of once giving him a mauling in sparring, Fury said: "You can't expect him to do something that you couldn't do. You can't teach him to be a great fighter when you weren't one.

"I bust both of these guys' ear drums – the trainer and the fighter," he bragged to the crowd.

When Scott was finally allowed to get a word in and do the talking for Wilder, he began by saying: "Deontay is raw power. I am technically sound. We match well.

"Deontay has made mental adjustments. All I needed was a receptive athlete.

"I believe Deontay will become two-time champion by knockout.

"It's about mental adjustments to the craft. That will pay big dividends. People haven't seen him in the gym.

"The Bermane Stiverne second fight – that whole camp, Deontay was boxing on his toes. The Kelvin Price fight? He was boxing on his toes.

"These are things I've always seen and took notes of.

"I said to myself: 'If I ever get the opportunity to work with him, I will make the most of it'.

"We repetitiously drill things that people haven't seen him do."

Warning: video contains swearing

Stressing that Wilder's silence "shows how weak of a person he is, and how much the beating from the last fight has taken an emotional and physical effect on his life," Fury and his dance partner embarked on what has been branded the longest staredown in history.

Seen by over 1.6 million viewers online, promoter Top Rank claimed it was "incredibly intense".

The two fighters said little-to-nothing, leaving individuals including Fury's brother and Scott mouthed at each other and got heated on their behalf.