By Trevor McIntyre: Tyson Fury says he’s already signed the contract and sent it back to WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder’s management for a fight between them, which is expected to take place in November.
If this turns out to be a solid from Fury, then we should be hearing from Wilder and his team that they’ve signed their end of the contract and the Wilder-Fury fight will be ready to be announced soon.
Recently, ESPN writer Dan Rafael and British promoter Eddie Hearn both said that sources told them that the Wilder-Fury fight isn’t going to take place. It’s unclear who the sources are for the two. They didn’t say why Fury won’t be taking the fight with Wilder, but a lot of boxing fans believe that the 6’9” former heavyweight champion isn’t physically and mentally ready to step inside the ring with him. Fury has only had two fights since coming back from a 2 ½ year layoff in beating Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pianeta, and he didn’t look sharp in either of those fights.
Fury looked good for a fighter coming off of a long, long layoff, but he didn’t show the kind of talent that would allow him to compete with a knockout puncher like Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs). It’s believed that Fury is a knockout waiting to happen if he does take the fight with the powerful American. There would be nothing wrong with Fury having second thoughts and choosing not to take the fight with Wilder. After all, it’s seen as an insane fight for Fury to take in the eyes of a lot of fans. Fury has done a good job of getting a lot of attention on himself by telling the fans that he wants to fight Wilder. If Fury backs out now, he won’t take too much flak. It’s better that Fury back out now rather later.
”They sent me the contract and I’ve signed it and sent it back,” Fury said to the dailymail.co.uk about him signing a contract for the Wilder fight and sending it back.
Wilder and Fury are rumored to be making $20 million each in a 50-50 fight. That’s a better deal for Wilder than the $15 million flat fee that he was given for a unification fight against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Anthony Joshua. Wilder wasn’t offered a percentage deal by Joshua’s promoter. Wilder agreed to take the fight, but Joshua didn’t agree to the $50 million offer from his management. The negotiations stopped for that fight when Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn decided to have him defend against his WBA mandatory Alexander Povetkin.
Fury, 29, doesn’t say when he signed the contract and sent it back. If Wilder’s team has been sitting on the contract for a week, then they likely will want changes to be made before they’ll agree to sign it.
What’s surprising is the fight hasn’t been announced officially as of yet. Fury and Wilder unofficially announced their fight on August 18 after Tyson defeated Francesco Pianeta in Belfast, Northern Ireland. But it’s now been 10 days since then, and yet the fight still hasn’t been announced. Promoters tend to start talking up fights before the contracts are signed, but we’re not seeing that here. That makes you wonder whether the Fury vs. Wilder fight will take place.
The Fury vs. Wilder fight needs to be negotiated soon so that the marketing can start up for November or December.