Punches are already being thrown between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury, verbal ones at least.

The two heavyweight champions are in the middle of their press tour for their Dec. 1 fight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They’ve already made stops in London and New York. Their last destination is Wednesday in the city where they’ll eventually fight it out in two months.

“If anybody is not interested in this fight, they’re crazy. They’re not boxing fans at all,” Wilder said at a news conference in London. “I’m excited about this fight so much. I am taking this seriously. I am taking it as if he was the champion and I’m the challenger. I’m taking it as if he was the badest man on the planet. I’m taking it as if he had the dynamite on his right hand.”

Fury doesn’t, of course, but he is the lineal champion. The Manchester, England, native defeated Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, taking Klitschko’s International Boxing Federation, World Boxing Association and World Boxing Organization titles with the victory. Those belts were all relinquished or taken away within a year, though, due to a license suspension in 2016 and then a hiatus of nearly three years amidst an investigation into anti-doping and medical issues.

On Aug. 6, Fury made his official return with a win over Sefer Seferi. He then fought again on Aug. 18 and beat Francesco Pianeta. It was at that later fight Wilder publicly challenged Fury.

“I have no concern at all about my lack of fights in recent years,” Fury said. “If you can fight, you can fight. I picked this fight. I said to Frank (Warren, Fury’s promoter): Get me this fight. I could have fought another 10 bums and won them, too. Nobody forced me to fight Deontay Wilder, I picked him because I believe he’s an easy touch.”

The so-called easy touch begs to differ.

“I’m the one who brought him back,” Wilder said at a news conference in New York. “I’m the one who encouraged him when he was in that dark place. I told him, ‘You can do it.’ I dared him to come back. I dared him for this very moment.”

Wilder, from Tuscaloosa, is the World Boxing Council heavyweight champion. He last fought in March, knocking out Luis Ortiz.

Both Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) and Fury (27-0, 19 KOs) are undefeated.

“I’m savoring nothing,” Fury said. “The only thing I’m savoring is smashing Deontay Wilder’s teeth in.”

Said Wilder: “He can hoot and holler, he can build himself up, but he needs to take my advice and speak it, believe it, receive it: He’s going to feel pain he’s never felt before.”

Tension is building. There has already been a little pushing and shoving – and a lot of yelling.

The Gypsy King vs. The Bronze Bomber: Fury stands at 6-foot-9 and is 30 years old. Wilder is two inches shorter but two years older.

“They are almost superheroes,” Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza said. “In particular, these two individuals are the two largest men in the heavyweight division, and I mean that in a physical sense as well as their personalities. On paper, in the fight, on the press tour, it’s a phenomenal matchup.”

America hasn’t hosted a significant heavyweight pay-per-view fight since Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis fought in Memphis in 2002.

Tickets go on sale Wednesday at 2 p.m. CT, starting at $75, and will be available at AXS.com. The 12-round bout will also be live on SHOWTIME PPV, starting at 8 p.m. CT.

“All you have to do is tune in,” Wilder said. “I’m about to put him in the oven and make a muffin."

Reach Terrin Waack at twaack@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0229.