By Allan Fox: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder reacted in what appeared to be anger on Tuesday after learning that Top Rank plans on having Tyson Fury take an interim fight in May or June against an opponent still to be determined on ESPN with the idea of making the Wilder-Fury fight bigger at a later date.
Top Rank’s idea is that the fight will be bigger between them if they let it marinate for one fight. The opponent that is rumored to be a possible for Fury’s interim fight is former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker. Wilder’s interim fight is most likely to be Dominic Breazeale, who is his current mandatory. Those are fights that Wilder and Fury could lose if those are the opponents. Marinating for one fight is probably not going to amount to more than tiny fraction of additional PPV buys, so it’s unclear whether the real goal is to increase the amount of buys for the Wilder-Fury fight or to simply stall it for as long as possible to have Fury fight different guys that aren’t as big a threat to knocking him out.
Here’s what Wilder said on his social media today to Tyson Fury after learning of the news of him pulling out of negotiations for their rematch:
“You sorry mutha-f—a. We knew you only said this because you knew you wasn’t fighting me next. #CloutChaser you requested a warm-up fight first 😂😂😂 I don’t blame you though, I probably would too if I saw my brains splashed all over the canvas. #Timberrr #Bih #RunHoeRun #NoSmokeWanted.”
Here’s what Fury had said recently to Wilder:
“I will fight anyone in world boxing. Don’t use boxing politics as an excuse not to challenge me the lineal heavyweight champ! @BronzeBomber @espn @frankwarren_tv @BobArum.”
Top Rank wants to sign Wilder to a multi-fight deal to their promotional company. It’s unknown if the offer that Wilder was given is smaller one than Fury. If so, it might not sit too well with Wilder, who is a world champion and arguably holds the most prestigious of the heavyweight titles with his World Boxing Council strap. Fury lost his titles years ago with them being stripped from him. Wilder is a free agent, he claims, and he supposedly sign with another promoter. If Wilder is a free agent, it would be interesting to see if DAZN makes an offer to get him over to their platform.
So it’s now looking like Wilder will wind up facing Dominic Breazeale (20-1, 18 KOs) next instead of Fury. If Wilder losses to Breazeale, then there goes the Fury fight. A fight between Breazeale and Fury likely will do far fewer pay-per-view buys than a Wilder-Fury fight. if Top Rank wants to let that fight marinate too, then we could see the WBC title changing hands yet again, this time going to Dillian Whyte. It would be a real mess, which is why one has to be more than a little suspicious when you hear about Top Rank wanting to let the Wilder vs. Fury II fight marinate. It could be that Top Rank doesn’t want the Wilder-Fury fight, because there’s too much risk of Fury losing.
“I’m super excited to take the fight. I’m waiting for the phone to ring with the date,” Breazeale said to RingTV.com.
It’s interesting that Fury would go along with what Top Rank wants of him in having him steer around the Wilder rematch. You can argue that the money is so good from Top Rank, that Fury might not care anymore. He doesn’t need to risk experiencing another knockdown like the one he suffered in the 12th round by Wilder, as long as he avoids the fight.