Tyson Fury willing to fight Deontay Wilder next rather than Hammer

By Boxing News - 01/20/2015 - Comments

wilder092(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada) By Scott Gilfoid: #1 WBO Tyson Fury (23-0, 17 KOs) says he’s willing to face WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (33-0, 32 KOs) next rather than take his stay busy fight against Christian Hammer next month on February 28th. The fight is doable because Fury would then wait until the summer to face Wilder, who will need to sit out until then while his fractured hand heals.

British promoter Frank Warren, who works with Fury, is interested in setting up the Fury vs. Wilder fight next if he can get Wilder to agree to the fight this week.

Whether Fury and Warren are serious about wanting to face Wilder instead of Hammer is still unknown at this point. I’d like to see Wilder take them up on the offer to see if they really want the fight, because it’s a bout that would potentially make Fury more money than he’d get in a fight against Klitschko.

Fury-Wilder would be a huge, huge fight in the UK, especially with the marketability that both fighters possess. A Fury-Klitschko fight would be a case of Fury doing all the hard work of building up the fight while Wladimir likely would remain stoic and tight-lipped during the press conferences, giving few interviews with new things to say. Fury and Wilder are both so available to sports writers, and very good at giving great quotes to help build up their fights.

Warren said via Fightnews.com, “The plan is still to pin down Klitschko and not let him duck Tyson, but Wilder would be huge. With the greatest respect to Christian Hammer, if Wilder were to confirm this week I would pay him off. In a way it’s a compliment (to Hammer) because we would ask ourselves, ‘why take the risk?’”

I can definitely see Wilder saying yes to fighting Fury next if they’re serious about this. Wilder has already sized up the 6’9” Fury a long time ago, and sees him as easy pickings. It would be a great fight for Wilder to take the Fury fight before he gets picked off by Wladimir Klitschko.

If Wilder doesn’t take the fight while Fury is still sporting an unbeaten record, then a fight against him at a later date will likely be a much smaller affair due to Fury having been exposed by Wladimir in a likely knockout loss to him. We all remember how popular David Price was before he got knocked out in consecutive fights against Tony Thompson. Before those losses, a fight between Price and Fury or Wilder would have been huge. Now it’s no longer a huge fight due to Price’s losses.

“Tyson Fury against Deontay Wilder is a much more exciting fight than Fury against Klitschko,” Warren said. It would fill up any football stadium in the country. Deontay Wilder has brought the heavyweight division out of the doldrums, and back to life. Him against Tyson would be the most exciting fight to promote for me, bar none.”

There’s no doubt that Fury-Wilder would be a tremendous stadium fight in the UK. It would be a huge pay-per-view fight now that Wilder has the WBC title in his possession. Yes, it would be bigger later on down the line if they were to both keep winning, but unfortunately, I see Fury’s time as an unbeaten fighter about to end when he faces Wladimir in 2015 or 2016. That’s why it’s important for Fury to take the fight with Wilder now. If it’s the better paying fight, which I believe it is, Fury should take on Wilder now rather than getting a smaller payday against Wladimir in a fight that will likely do nothing for his career.

“If I get through Christian Hammer, I’ll gladly fight Wilder before Wladimir Klitschko,” Fury said.



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