By Chris Williams: Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder are scheduled to fight on October 3 in a trilogy match in Las Vegas, Nevada. No, you’re not hallucinating. The fight now has a working date which we can only hope will stick.
@MikeCoppinger is reporting that’s the new date for the postponed Fury-Wilder 3 fight, which had previously had a July 18 deadline to take place.
Coronavirus wrecked plans for July fight
Yes, the coronavirus destroyed those plans for the Fury vs. Wilder fight in July, making it essential that the fight gets moved to later in the year. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told Dan Rafael of ESPN this week that October is the date for the fight, and now we know it’s on the 3rd of that month. As things go, this will depend on the coronavirus outbreak, and there’s still no letup from that.
Like their rematch on February 22, the Oct.3 fight will be shown on ESPN and Fox Sports pay-per-view. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of numbers the fight pulls in on PPV.
With some people believing the U.S is heading towards a massive depression, putting Wilder and Fury on pay-per-view in October could be a disaster. If things are back to normal, the fight could do well, but the situation is looking bleak right now. Be prepared for the fight to be postponed again if the coronavirus situation worsens in the U.S and worldwide.
Fans don’t want to see Fury vs. Wilder 3
Not a lot of boxing fans want to see the third fight between Wilder and Fury after how the second one ended. The promoters of Wilder and Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) will need to figure out how to sell the Fury-Wilder III fight to the general public, who may still be reeling from the coronavirus by October.
Fans not wanting to see Fury and Wilder fight again could be a major problem trying to drum up interest. You add that with the coronavirus and a poor economy, it’ll be a mad witches brew that could result in the fight bringing woefully poor numbers.
Postponing the Fury vs. Wilder fight until next year would be one option. Another would be putting it on regular ESPN and Fox, and not charging boxing fans to see it. Obviously, that’s not going to happen. As long as people are back to work, it could do well, but now would be a disaster for the trilogy to be shown on pay-per-view given the economy.
Right now, there’s not a high level of interest in seeing Fury and Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) fight again due to their last fight being such a horrible mismatch. Fury destroyed Wilder in 7 one-sided rounds on February 22 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Wilder with 3 extra months to prepare
This is a better deal for former WBC champion Wilder than if the third fight with Fury had taken place in July, seeing that it gives him more time to prepare. This has to help Wilder because he needs more time to work on the flaws in his game that Fury took advantage of in their second fight.
Mentally, Wilder has a huge hurdle that he needs to stride over for him to get ready for the third fight with Fury. Deontay’s loss to Fury was so devastating that it could prove next to impossible for him to be 100% ready for a third encounter with the 6’9″ Brit.
What Wilder needs is a tune-up fight, and he’s not going to get that. Having three extra months to get ready for Fury will at least help Deontay forget the loss, and start with a clean later for the trilogy. If that’s all Wilder can hope for, then he’ll have to make the best of it.
