By Tim Royner: Promoter Frank Warren says the winner of the Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder fight will be considered the number one heavyweight on the planet. WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) and Fury (26-0, 19 KOs) are destined to face each other later this year on November 10 or November 17 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Fury, 29, has to win his scheduled 10 round fight this Saturday night against Francesco Pianeta (35-4-1, 21 KOs) at Windsor Park in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Wilder, 32, will be there on Saturday night for a photo op to start the ball rolling for the mega-clash against Fury. The Fury vs. Wilder fight will likely be announced as soon as the Fury-Pianeta fight is done with.
The negotiations for the Fury vs. Wilder fight are said to be close to being done for November. Fury his mind on his fight against Pianeta though. He’s not overlooking the big 6’5” Italian. Fury knows that if he loses this fight, he can forget about a fight against Wilder in November. Fury would need to face Pianeta in a rematch and avenge the loss before he could start thinking about a fight against Wilder or Anthony Joshua.
“You’ve got two guys who do actually want to fight each other, providing Tyson comes through,” Warren said via ESPN.com. “You’ve got the two heavyweights in Wilder and Fury who want to get it on, and whoever wins will be the No. 1 heavyweight in the world.”
Some boxing fans would disagree with Warren about his opinion that the Wilder-Fury winner will be the number one fighter in the heavyweight division. It’s understandable why Warren would believe that the winner should be considered No.1. Joshua struggled badly in beating Wladimir Klitschko in 2017 in stopping him in the 11th round. Wladimir knocked Joshua down in the 6th, and likely would have stopped him if he’d tried to knock him out.
Joshua’s win over Klitschko was so unimpressive that it’s impossible to see him as the best fighter in the heavyweight division even if Fury and Wilder don’t face each other in November. One of those two heavyweights must be considered as the best fighter in the division. Joshua hasn’t beaten anyone since the Klitschko fight for him to be considered number one in the heavyweight division. Apart from his victory over 41-year-old Wladimir, Joshua’s wins have come against Carlos Takam, Dillian Whyte [injured], Eric Molina, Dominic Breazeale and Joseph Parker. Those aren’t good enough heavyweights for Joshua to be seen as the best fighter in the division.
“That’s not disrespectful to Anthony Joshua. They have stepped up to the plate,” Warren said. ”The fans will know that and they’re the ones who matter.”
Joshua passed up on a fight against Wilder for September, and instead will be defending against Alexander Povetki (34-1, 24 KOs) on September 22 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. That move made Joshua look less than courageous to some boxing fans, and incredibly greedy to others. Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom wanted Wilder to agree to a $15 million flat fee for a fight that could make massive amounts of money, perhaps as much as $100 million. If you do the match, a flat fee of $15 million would give Joshua a huge advantage in the purse split for the fight if Wilder agreed to it.
Fury will be making his second fight of his comeback on Saturday night against Pianeta at Windsor Park. Fury should win the fight with ease. It would be huge news if Pianeta, 33, is able to pull off the upset to defeat Fury. Pianeta will be playing the role of a spoiler when he faces Fury. There’s no pressure on Pianeta in this fight, as he’s seen as having no chance to win. Pianeta lost recently to journeyman Kevin Johnson and Petar Milas.