By Scott Gilfoid: In a sign that we could be seeing a big unification fight later this year, IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) is expected to be ringside this Saturday night for WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder’s title defense against Artur Szpilka (20-1, 15 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Since it’s hard to imagine Fury going through the trouble and the financial expense of traveling to the United States merely to watch the Wilder-Szpilka fight, which will be televised in the UK, it would seem obvious that Fury is scouting out Wilder up close so that he can figure out what it’s like to be in the same ring with the 6’7” talent.
The money that Fury can make in a fight against Wilder would be huge, especially if the fight were staged in the UK in one of the larger stadiums.
“I heard that [Fury attending Wilder-Szpilka fight] and we are going to greet him well here to the fight and we are looking forward to seeing him,” Wilder said. “He has stated that once he fights Klitschko again and beats him he’s going to fight me and I want him to promise me that – 2016 we will get this on once and for all and give the fans what they want to see,” said Wilder.
Before a unification fight between Fury and Wilder can take place, they’re going to need to win their next fights. In Wilder’s case, he might need to win two more fights before he can face Fury in a unification match. Besides Wilder’s title defense against Szpilka this Saturday, Wilder also has a mandatory defense due against his No.1 WBC contender Alexander Povetkin.
It’s possible that the World Boxing Council could let Wilder bypass the Povetkin fight if a unification match against Fury is available, because it’s a much bigger fight. The WBC might be tempted to let the Fury vs. Wilder fight take place first with the condition that the winner of the contest faces Povetkin in their next fight. That would mean there couldn’t be a rematch clause in the contract like we saw in the Fury vs. Wladimir Klitschko fight last November.
The rematch clause resulted in Fury losing his IBF title, when he couldn’t defend it against his IBF mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov immediately. Fury will need to beat Wladimir in the rematch unfortunately, and that’s going to be a heck of a lot harder than it’ll be for Deontay to whip Szpilka and Povetkin. Fury might lose to Wladimir the second time around if the Ukrainian has his head screwed straight and is committed to fighting hard.
“We are both in a position now where we are both champions, we have titles, and I’m looking to unify the division,” Deontay said about Fury. “I don’t know what his goal is but it is the perfect time for it. If any time is perfect, 2016 is the perfect year.”
Let’s be real; if Fury doesn’t face Deontay in 2016, the light hitting Fury will likely get beaten by one of the contenders that he defends against. That’s if Fury doesn’t get beaten immediately in his rematch against Klitschko. Fury has to face Deontay straightaway. If he doesn’t then he’ll need to do it under much different circumstances in 2017 with Fury coming off a string of defeats. Fury just got lucky with Wladimir being an old timer and no longer being the fighter he was five years ago.
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