By Charles Brun: Lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury says he wants to fight UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic in a boxing match after he faces Deontay Wilder in a rematch on February 22 next year. Miocic, 37, recently expressed interest in facing Fury, and he likes the idea of battling him.
Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs) compares a fight between him and Miocic to Floyd Mayweather Jr. with his boxing match against Conor McGrregor. That fight, which some called a circus bout, was sanctioned by the Nevada State Athlete Commission despite McGregor never having fought a professional match or an amateur match in boxing.
Mayweather appeared to fight at one-quarter speed in carrying McGregor to the 10th round before knocking him out. It was a dull mismatch, but the boxing and MMA fans purchased the event in high numbers on PPV. It ended up bringing in an incredible 4.3 million buys.
It’s going to be a lot harder for Fury to find that kind of success against Miocic, because he’s not a big star in the U.S like Mayweather. The fans are hip now to the outcome of mismatches involving MMA guys fighting boxers in boxing matches.
“Stipe says he wants to box me — that would be a good fight for sure,” Fury said via MTK Global. “After I get Wilder out of the way, I’ll fight Stipe in a boxing match if he wants it.”
You hate to say it but all this talk from Fury may evaporate if/when Deontay Wilder knocks him out in February. There won’t be any point in MMA guys calling out Fury, because he’ll be seen in a different light than he is now.
Fury, 31, doesn’t seem to be focused on boxing at this point of his career. Something has changed with him since he fought a grueling match against Otto Wallin last September. He doesn’t seem to be acting like he’s 100 percent committed to the sport.
Fury was staggered by the 6’6″ Wallin, and he suffered a dreadful cut over his right eye. The sheer size of the gash should have led the fight being halted. After the fight, it took 46 stitches to close up the wound.
With that a cut that bad, Fury should have been taking it easy to let it heal for his February match. Rather than doing that, Fury took part in a WWE event on October 31 in Saudi Arabia. Fortunately, Fury made it through that match without the cut opening up, but it was a big risk.
Just taking part in the vent showed that Fury was willing to risk the Wilder fight not taking place in February. At this point in Fury’s career, he’s starting to get distracted with all the offers being given, and doesn’t seem to have his focus on what’s actually important. If Fury gets knocked out by Wilder, he may no longer be in demand.
“It would be a big crossover fight like [Floyd] Mayweather and [Conor] McGregor,” said Fury. “I’m open to that fight, so he should come and see me. It would be the same outcome for any of them. They’ll all get smashed.”
It’s not even sporting for Fury to fight a guy with NO background in boxing like Miocic. That’s not even a fair fight. There are tons of professional fighters with little ability Fury could be fighting rather than looking to set up a fight against a guy from another sport.
If this how Fury’s career is going to end up with him setting up boxing matches against MMA guys or taking part in professional wrestling matches, it would be a sad way to go. But perhaps he knows that we don’t know. Fury’s chances of beating Wilder in the rematch are slim. He should have been knocked out in his previous fight with Wilder last year.
The referee gave Fury a count while he was out cold on the canvas. You don’t see that kind of thing nowadays. Referees are looking out for the safety of the fighters, and they mostly pull the plug on a fight when a guy is in the condition Fury was in after Wilder knocked him down in the 12th.