By Tim Royner: Provided that lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury wins his next fight against Tom Schwarz on June 15, the plan is for Tyson to then face WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in a rematch in the first quarter of next year in February, according to the Metro. Of course, the Wilder-Fury II fight will need to get negotiated fight that vision to take place. Anything can happen before then that might spoil the contest from getting made.
Fury (27-0-1, 19 KO) signed a large $100 million, five-fight deal with Top Rank Boxing, and they want to take their time before putting him back in with Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KOs). The two fought to a 12 round draw last December at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The result was controversial in the eyes of the boxing public, many of which felt Tyson won or should have won. Fury was knocked down twice in the championship rounds by Wilder. Those knock downs sunk Fury’s chances of winning a decision.
Schwarz (24-0, 16 KOs) will be in the position as the spoiler when he faces the 30-year-old Fury this summer on June 15 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Although Schwarz is not known for being a big puncher, he’s got enough pop in his punches to give Fury something to think about. Fury doesn’t have the best chin in the heavyweight division, as most boxing fans now, and he’s been dropped by weaker punchers than Schwarz. The German fighter has a top rate jab, and he can punch with power when he loads up. Getting hit by a 6’5″ heavyweight like Schwarz could be a problem for Fury if he gets hit cleanly. There’s a lot of question marks about whether Fury’s punch resistance will be the same after what he experienced in the 12th round against Wilder. Fury was knocked senseless by Wilder. While some boxing fans feel this is no big deal, it can be a very big deal for Fury is the knockdown makes him more prone to being hurt in his future fights. Fury will obviously take a lot of shots in his training camp to get prepared for Schwarz.
With Top Rank choosing to let the Wilder vs. Fury II rematch marinate, Wilder will be defending his World Boxing Council title against his mandatory Dominic Breazeale on May 18. Wilder was recently offered $100 million to sign with DAZN, but he turned it down, and will be staying with Showtime.
After Fury gets passed Schwarz on June 15, Top Rank is going to have Fury fight later this year against an opponent still to be determined before then looking to make the rematch with Wilder in early 2020. As far as who Fury will be fighting later this year, it’s likely going to be one of Top Rank’s fighters in Bryant Jennings, Oscar Rivas or Kubrat Pulev. For his part, Wilder might be forced to face Dillian Whyte if Matchroom Boxing promotions is able to persuade the WBC to have them order Wilder defend against him in his next fight after his May 18 title defense against Breazeale.