Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury rematch eyed for April 13

By Boxing News - 12/10/2018 - Comments

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury rematch eyed for April 13

By Scott Gilfoid: Tyson Fury’s promoter is targeting April 13 for the rematch against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, which would put it on the same night as Anthony Joshua’s next fight at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn might end up blowing a rod when he hears the news of the Wilder vs. Fury rematch taking place on April 13. It would be fun to be a fly on the wall when Hearn blows his stack over this.

If Hearn would just match Joshua against a good opponent on April 13, he wouldn’t have to worry about competition from Wilder vs. Fury 2. Unfortunately, that’s not likely to happen. Hearn is likely going to put Dillian Whyte back in with Joshua for a needless rematch, and many of the boxing fans will jump ship and order the Wilder vs. Fury fight instead.

Two pay-per-view fights on the same night in the UK could spell disaster for both. The boxing fans would need to make a decision which of the two they would want to purchase, and it wouldn’t be a good deal.

Wilder and Fury fought to a controversial 12 round split draw this month on December 1 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Some boxing fans thought Fury deserved the win. The judges scored it 115-111 for Wilder, 114-112 for Fury and 113-113. Fury was asleep briefly in the 12th after getting dropped by Wilder. Fury was also knocked down in the 9th.

Hearn won’t like it one bit, because he’s going to need that date to have no conflicting fights in order to sell the tired retread fight between Joshua and Dillian Whyte. The boxing public already saw Joshua and Whyte fight each other three years ago, and it turned out to be a horrible mismatch. Why Hearn would want to try and sell the same fight to the fans again is the big question. If there’s counter-programming going on with the Fury vs. Wilder 2 fight taking place on the same night as Joshua vs. TBA on April 13, it could hurt Hearn’s Matchroom card in a big way. There’s no reason or much fan interest for a second Joshua vs. Whyte fight. But there’s a ton of fans wanting to see Fury and Wilder face each other again. If that fight takes place on the same night as Joshua’s fight on April 13, it could hurt the card if it takes place in the UK as well.

The Wilder vs. Fury 2 fight still need to be negotiated, but it’s interesting that it could wind up on the same night as Joshua’s April 13 bout at Wembley Stadium.

The only way that Joshua’s next fight and the Wilder-Fury rematch will conflict with each other in a major way is if both fights take place in the UK on April 13. If Wilder vs. Fury 2 is scheduled in the U.S, then it might not be as big a problem. Ideally, it would be better for both fights to be staged on different dates

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