Nelson: Fury says he’ll fight Wilder after Schwarz clash

By Boxing News - 04/05/2019 - Comments

Image: Nelson: Fury says he'll fight Wilder after Schwarz clash

By Trevor McIntyre: Johnny Nelson says Tyson Fury told him that he’ll be facing WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in a rematch after his June 15 fight contest against German heavyweight Tom Schwarz on ESPN at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Fury is blaming the rematch with Wilder not happening due to the “businessmen” not wanting it, according to Nelson in an interview with IFL TV. Nelson doesn’t say which specific “businessmen” didn’t want the Wilder-Fury rematch to take place, but Fury signed with the American promotional company Top Rank. The next thing you know, it was said that the rematch between Wilder and Fury wouldn’t be happening. The fight was going to marinate. Before that, Fury and Wilder were in negotiations to face each other in a rematch on May 18.

At this point it might not be so easy to pick up the ball and make the rematch between Fury (27-0-1, 19 KOs) and Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KOs) happen due to them fighting on competing networks. Fury is with Top Rank Boxing on ESPN, whereas Wilder is with PBC on Showtime. Putting a deal together for a rematch between them won’t be easy. If Top Rank boss Bob Arum isn’t certain that he really wants the Wilder-Fury rematch, then it’ll be easy to sabotage the negotiations in order to make sure the rematch doesn’t happen.

“He believes it’ll happen next,” Nelson said to IFL TV about the Wilder vs. Fury II rematch. “I spoke to Tyson Fury last night and he told me it’s not the fighters that don’t want the fight, it’s the business men behind it. ‘He gave credit where credit was due. He didn’t say Deontay Wilder didn’t want to fight me or Anthony Joshua doesn’t want to fight me, he said it was the business men behind it. ‘Fair dues,” Nelson said.

So if Nelson is correct, then Fury’s promoters Frank Warren and Top Rank will start negotiations with Team Wilder immediately after the fight with the German heavyweight Schwarz on June 15 in Las Vegas. As long as Fury wins that fight, we could see the Wilder-Fury II rematch later this year, as long as the “businessmen” don’t block it from happening. The boxing fans think Fury didn’t want the rematch with Wilder bad enough to go to bat to make it happen with his new promoters at Top Rank. Instead of being assertive with them to try and force the issue, it’s believed by fans that Fury was passive, letting them throw the rematch to the side in order to match him against little known Tom Schwarz in a showcase fight on June 15 in Las Vegas, Nevada. From Top Rank’s perspective, they want to turn Fury into a star. They’re paying him a lot of money, so they want to see him get crushed by Wilder in his first fight of his new contract.

The boxing fans were upset at seeing Fury choose not to fight Wilder in a rematch, and instead fight the little known 6’5″ German heavyweight Schwarz. There was absolutely not demand for a fight between Fury and Schwarz by the boxing public.

“They’re all fighting men.’ ‘He believes it will happen after the Breazeale fight,” Nelson said about the Wilder vs. Fury fight. “As far as he’s concerned, Wilder was obligated to fight Breazeale and as far as he’s concerned, that’s his next fight.”

Wilder and Fury fought to a 12 round draw on December 1 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Fury was knocked down in the ninth and twelfth round, and that prevented him from winning the fight. Wilder will be defending against his World Boxing Council mandatory challenger Dominic Breazeale (20-1, 18 KOs) on May 18 on Showtime.