By Scott Gilfoid: Mick Hennessy, the promoter for #1 WBO heavyweight contender Tyson Fury (23-0, 17 KOs), believes that a fight between Fury and IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (63-3, 53 KOs) is going to take place in the summer in 2015, possibly in the UK.
While recently there was talk of Wladimir facing 43-year-old former WBO heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs in September of this year, Hennessy believes that Wladimir will take on Fury. If not, then Hennessy sees it going to purse bids where Wladimir would have little choice but to take the fight if he wants to hold onto his World Boxing Organization title.
The Klitschko-Fury fight hinges on Wladimir winning his April 25th against Bryant Jennings (17-0, 10 KOs) and Fury beating the highly ranked but very, very limited #3 WBO Christian Hammer (17-3, 10 KOs) in their clash on February 28th.
“I believe the fight against Wladimir will happen this year,” Hennessy told ESPN.co.uk. “Tyson wants it in a big way and Wladimir’s team like the idea of the fight because it’s the biggest one out there for them. It will happen where ever it commercially makes sense and that could mean over here. Team Klitschko are open to coming to the UK if the economics are right.”
I would be very surprised if Wladimir and his manager Bernd Boente were to agree to travel to the UK to fight Fury. I mean, they might talk about taking the fight in the UK, but I don’t see them actually doing it. Even if the money were huge, I can’t see Wladimir traveling to the UK to fight Fury.
Wladimir can make good money fighting in Germany or places like Moscow, Russia. Why would he put himself in the position where he might need a knockout in order to win the fight? I don’t think Wladimir will want to have to battle Fury and potentially the crowd and the crowd-influenced judges in a fight against the 6’9” Fury.
Unless the money is huge for Fury to fight Wladimir, he might be better off setting up a fight against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in the summer, because I think this would be a bigger fight. Wilder is outgoing, he speaks good English, he’s friendly, he smiles a lot, and he’s got a great personality. Above all, Wilder is media friendly and doesn’t pick and choose which media outlets he’ll grant interviews to like some fighters do.
Wilder is very accessible to the media, and this increases his reach in terms of reaching the wider public. For that reason, I see a fight between Wilder and Fury as being a far bigger fight than if Fury faces Wladimir. I think there’s no comparison. Wilder-Fury would be the bigger fight in the UK than Fury-Wladimir due to Wilder’s promotional skills.
If Fury faces Wladimir next, it’s probably not going to go well for Fury. I believe he loses that fight by an early knockout. Fury’s young enough to build his way back to eventually get a fight against Wilder, but it’s going to take him a while to get back to the top. I’d say 2 to 3 years of Fury fighting the guys that he’s built his inflated record on, and maybe he’ll be ready to face Wilder by 2018.
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