By Charles Brun: Tyson Fury isn’t willing to say for sure that he’ll be facing Anthony Joshua twice in 2021 because he still has the dangerous KO artist Deontay Wilder ahead of him this year.
Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) is contractually obligated to defend his WBC heavyweight title against Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) by this October, but he doesn’t see that month working due to the lockdown.
The two big heavyweights will likely lock horns sometime in the fall, but it’s still too early to know for certain when that date will happen. Fury, 31, isn’t willing to fight Wilder behind closed doors, as he doesn’t want to rob the fans of the opportunity to see them.
Fury vs. Wilder 3 NOT likely for UK
Ideally, Fury would like the trilogy match with Wilder to be staged in the UK, but with the rules against large crowds, it’s still uncertain whether that can happen. Fury says he’s ready to travel to China or the Middle East to face Wilder in the trilogy match.
That won’t make Fury’s fans happy, but that maybe his only option. Fury-Wilder 3 is too big of a match for it to take place without fans in the UK or the U.S.
Fury willing to travel for Wilder fight
“Yeah, I’ll fight again as soon as the world gets started again,” said Fury to IFL TV. “That’ll be it [Fury fighting one in 2020 against Wilder]. I’ll be fighting this year, and it’ll be in front of a live audience I’m hoping so.
“I wouldn’t pay Wilder $10 grand to step aside. I’d rather go in again and give him a good hiding again. I’m not paying anybody to step aside. I’m knocking out all bums.
“I think it’s fair to say,” said Tyson when asked if he’d be willing to follow the money by fighting in the Middle East or China if need be. “I have a bad, and I will travel. I’m a traveler. Most of my big fights haven’t been in England anyway.
“Most of them have been in Germany and America. So wherever these big fights take place, I’ll be happy to travel to. I don’t rule out fighting in this country [UK]. We have a big following in England. It’s two British fighters. There’s a definite possibility of it happening here,” said Fury.
Wilder isn’t asking for a step aside. He wants to fight Fury next because he needs to avenge his seventh-round knockout loss from last February to regain his status as a world champion. It’s the fans and the media that have been talking about step asides, being that they want to see Fury and Anthony Joshua mix it up right away this year.
They’ve going to have to wait until 2021 for that fight to happen, and that’s if Fury gets passed, Wilder. There are no certainties in boxing, especially in the heavyweight division.
Tyson won’t overlook Wilder
“What happens if I get knocked out by Wilder in the rematch?” said Fury when asked if he’ll definitely be fighting Joshua twice in 2021. “I can see two fights against Joshua next year, provided I get past Deontay Wilder this year.
“It’s not a given. When you get beaten for the first time in your life, it can either do two things to you. It can make you break, or it can give you that bit between your teeth where you want to go back and smash the guy’s teeth that beat you.
“If I go into this camp taking it lightly, Deontay Wilder will most probably knock me into next week,” said Fury. “I’ve got to approach this fight as if I didn’t beat him the first time, and I didn’t beat him the second time, and I’m still very hungry.
“I’ve already told Wilder that the only way to beat ‘The Gypsy King’ is to flatten him so he can’t get back up,” said Fury in giving the key to beating him. “It’s very simple. Land on the old chin and keep me down. It’s not so easy,” said Fury.
Wilder is too dangerous for Fury to look beyond this fight. As saw in their first clash, Wilder dropped Fury twice and had him legitimately knocked out in the 12th. That fight could have been stopped, but Fury got lucky that he had a referee that was willing to count while he was unconscious. Nine times out of ten, a fight like that is stopped on the spot.
Dillian Whyte will need to wait
“I know Dillian Whyte is the WBC mandatory, and I inherited him from Deontay Wilder. At the moment, I’ve got an immediate rematch with Wilder. I know Dillian is going on about ‘fight me instead.’ Wilder isn’t going to give up $25 million, is he?
“After that fight [againt Deontay], I think there’s a mandatory due, but I’m almost 95% sure that all the organizations will sanction a unification before a mandatory. That was before the wheels fell off the world,” said Fury on the WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman mandating that he defend against Whyte by February 2021.
“Wilder’s date for this rematch is October, contracted, but I can’t see it happening in October. Does that mean he doesn’t have a rematch clause anymore?
“It’s written down on paper, the rematch. It has to happen by October, and if it doesn’t happen by October, there isn’t a rematch. Because of the lockdown, it’s going to be impossible to do by the certain date it’ss contracted,” said Fury.
WBC mandatory Dillian Whyte has no other choice but to wait until Fury and Joshua fight twice before he gets his chance for a title shot. If Whyte is lucky, he’ll fight for the WBC belt in 2021. With boxing hurting for essential fights, it’s unlikely that the WBC will be too sympathetic to Whyte’s cause. The sport needs Joshua and Fury to fight x two next year.
Fury cool to the idea of fighting behind closed doors
“I don’t think I could get motivated. It would be like being in the gym,” said Fury in talking about fighting behind closed doors. “I’ve already made a lot of money, and I think it would be robbing the public of the opportunity to go watch live gates. I’m not all for it, but that’s my opinion personally,” Fury said on fighting behind closed doors.
This won’t make Fury and Wilder’s boxing fans happy if they don’t stage it in the U.S or the UK, but what else can they do? If the governments for either of those countries don’t allow fans back for large events this year, then they’ll have no other choice but to take it to another country.
There’s too much money on the table for Fury to fight behind closed doors against anybody, be it Wilder, Joshua, or Whyte. You can’t blame Fury for not wanting to walk away from all the money he can make fighting in front of a live gate.
If Fury were to decide to fight behind closed doors, he might as well have a large bonfire in his front yard with millions of dollars being set on fire. That’s what Fury would be doing if he agreed to fight without fans.
