By Tim Royner: Promoter Frank Warren says he’ll be making an announcement next Monday on the future of former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (27-0-1, 19 KOs), according to Talksport. It’s believed that Warren will reveal the news of the rematch between Fury, 30, and WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KOs) at that time. The fight could be talking place on May 18.
Fury and Wilder fought to a 12 round draw on December 1 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The judges were unable to pick a clear winner in that fight, although boxing world saw Fury as the winner. The rematch will give Fury the chance to prove that he’s the better man.
“We will be making an announcement on Monday,” said Warren to talksport.com. “Monday we will be in a position I hope where we can be announcing what the future is for Tyson.”
You can argue that it’s important that the Wilder vs. Fury 2 fight get negotiated in order to avoid a purse bid. If it goes to a purse bid, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn will likely put in a huge bid to put the Wilder-Fury rematch on DAZN. That would be a nightmare for Wilder and Fury.
The Wilder rematch will make Fury a lot of money. Their previous fight brought in 325,000 pay-per-view buys on SHOWTIME. The second fight could do even better numbers. Now that the casual U.S boxing fans have seen Fury for the first time, they’ll be more interested in paying to see him and Wilder fight each other a second time.
Warren points out that Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn could have put together a big match between IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua vs. Fury if he had given Tyson the 50-50 split that he was asking for. Hearn instead put together a deal with Joshua and American Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller for June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The news of the Joshua-Miller fight has been met with a mixed reaction from the boxing world. While some fans don’t mind the idea of seeing Joshua fight the unbeaten 315 pound ‘Big Baby’ Miller (23-0-1, 20 KOs), many other people are disgusted with this fight, and see it as another example of Hearn having AJ milk his IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight titles against a soft opponent that has no chance of beating him.
The World Boxing Council’s decision to order WBC mandatory Dominic Breazeale to face #1 WBC Dillian Whyte next for the sanctioning bodies’ ‘interim WBC belt’ increases the chances of a third fight between Wilder and Fury. If the Matchroom Sport promoted Whyte beats Breazeale, then Hearn will have the Wilder-Fury winner boxed in to where they have to face one of his fighters, either Dillian or Joshua. This is what Hearn was gloating about this week. He wants the Wilder vs. Fury 2 winner to be in a position where they’ll have to fight Joshua or Whyte. That in turn increases the chances that the Wilder-Fury rematch winner won’t get the 50-50 purse split that they want for a fight against Joshua. Wilder and Fury both want a 50-50 deal to fight Joshua, but if they lose to Whyte, then that idea is out the window perhaps forever. You can argue that Hearn wants the winner of the Wilder vs. Fury II rematch to feel pressured to make the unification fight with Joshua next for the split that he’s offering them. With Whyte likely breathing down the necks of the Wilder-Fury winner, if/when he beats Breazeale for the interim WBC title, it could create pressure to bring Deontay or Fury to the bargaining table to hammer out a deal to fight Joshua.
Will Hearn be willing to give the winner of the Wilder vs. Fury 2 winner 50% of the pot for a fight against Joshua? No, not very likely. Hearn would have Whyte there waiting to make Wilder or Fury feel pressure to agree to the deal that he wants them to in order to fight Joshua. That means it would likely be the same 60-40 purse split that Hearn just offered them or even less than that. Hearn could very confident that he can do what he wants if he has Whyte there on the verge of getting a title shot against the winner of the Wilder-Fury 2 fight. The World Boxing Council can force the winner of the Wilder v. Fury 2 fight to face Whyte if they don’t come to a deal with Joshua.
It’s a bad situation potentially for the winner of the Wilder vs. Fury II fight to be in. They’re either forced to make a deal with Joshua that they might not like or they the WBC will order them to face Whyte. That’s what Hearn means when he says he’s got Wilder and Fury boxed in now. However, if Wilder and Fury face each other a third time, then Whyte and Joshua will be put off and unable to do anything about it. The WBC would need to agree to allow Fury and Wilder to fight each other a third time. It’s possible that they won’t, especially if Hearn complains to the WBC enough to get them to force the Wilder-Fury 2 winner to fight Joshua or Whyte.
“We told them we would make that fight any day between Tyson and them on a 50/50 split,” Warren said.
Joshua and Hearn didn’t want to give Fury or Wilder a 50-50 deal, and that likely won’t change. Hearn has Whyte there as insurance to make sure that he doesn’t have to give the winner of the Wilder-Fury fight the 50-50 deal. If Whyte loses to Breazeale, then Hearn’s plans will crumble to pieces right away. Hearn needs Whyte there as a way of forcing the winner of the Wilder vs. Fury fight to make a deal with Joshua or else they have to face Dilian. It’s not that Wilder and Fury probably can’t beat Whyte, but it would be a messy fight with a lot of fouling, and possibly questionable scoring by the judges. Wilder at least would have the power to make sure the judges don’t have a say in a fight against Whyte, but he wouldn’t be able to do much about being roughed up by him for as long as it lasts. The referee would have to do his job of keeping Whyte under control with his rough stuff. If the referee lets Whyte rough up Wilder or Fury for the entire fight, it’s hard to say whether they would beat him.