By Charles Brun: Tyson Fury has revealed that one of his goals in the near-term is to surpass Canelo Alvarez and Floyd Mayweather Jr. for his next contract with Top Rank, ESPN, or whoever.
The 31-year-old WBC heavyweight champion Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) has two fights left on his contract with Top Rank, and he believes that he can break records with his next contract.
Canelo Alvarez recently signed an 11-fight, $365 million deal with DAZN. For Fury to ave a shot at eclipsing that number, he’ll need to beat Deontay Wilder this year, and then defeat IBF/WBA/WBO champion Anthony Joshua in 2021.
Can Fury make more money than Canelo and Mayweather?
It may be impossible for Fury to outdo Mayweather and Canelo with his next contract, seeing that he’s not a huge name in the States. Fury has increased his popularity in the U.S with his wins over Wilder, Otto Wallin, and Tom Schwarz, but he probably doesn’t have enough fans yet for ESPN and Top Rank to throw crazy money at him at this point.
Fury has arguably picked a bad time for him to be looking to join Canelo and Mayweather among the super-wealthy. To join those fighters among the uber-rich, Fury will need to continue to fight the way he did in his rematch with Wilder last February, and he’ll need to do that for a number of years.
Right now, Fury is just starting out. He’s only fought one talented fighter since resuming his career in 2018, and that was Wilder. Fury’s other fights were against mediocre opposition.
Tyson wants to break records
“Top Rank, I’ve got two fights left with those guys, and I want to renew it,” said Tyson Fury to IFL TV. “I don’t want to walk away after two more fights. I’m 31-years-old.
“As Billy Keane said, who helped out with this deal with ESPN and Top Rank. ‘You better get out the dumper truck and reverse it up to Tyson Fury’s bank account because that’s what it’s going to need.’
“I want to get that big major fight deal. And I want to break all records for a British fighter to go overseas and get the biggest signing record in history. I know that with MTK Global, with Top Rank and Frank Warren and all the guys that helped in between,” said Fury.
Top Rank will need to come up with a lot of money if they want to keep Fury when his contract runs out because you can bet that Matchroom Boxing, Golden Boy Promotions, and other promoters will attempt to sign him. If DAZN continues to pour money into fighters in 2021, then they may choose to sign Fury to their network.
Still, it’s going t be hard for Fury to make the kind of money that Canelo and Mayweather have been getting. He’s not at that level in the U.S right now. Canelo already had a considerable fan base when he started fighting in the U.S years ago because he’s from nearby Mexico.
In Mayweather’s case, he was a U.S Olympian, who slowly build his fan base. Mayweather didn’t achieve stardom until he beat crossover star Oscar De La Hoya in 2007.
Fury hopes to eclipse Mayweather and Canelo with next fight contract
“I know we can make that happen. And I know we can make history with the biggest fight deal in the history of boxing, bigger than Floyd Mayweather, bigger than Canelo, bigger than Mike Tyson and bigger than anybody,” said Tyson. “I think it’s very possible, and I always aim high with my achievements, and that’s my next aim.
“After I wipe out Wilder and Joshua, then the world is my oyster, and then I want to see that big, big contract from ESPN and whoever is out there that wants the Gypsy King on their station,” said Fury. “I’m a standalone star in the heavyweight division. There’s nobody else.
There’s nothing wrong with Fury being ambitious, but he’s going to need to be dedicated for him to make more money than Canelo and Mayweather. On top of that, Fury will need a lot of luck.
Mike Tyson is too old at 53 for Fury to fight him, and become a star in the U.S from that fight.
Fury doesn’t have a huge star for him to fight in the U.S that will transform him into a star. If Joshua were from the U.S, then would be the fight that would turn Fury into a household name, but he’s not.
A lot of talented heavyweights for Fury to fight
“If I get an offer to fight behind closed doors, I won’t be doing it. That’s it,” said Fury. “I’ve got to fight Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua, Dillian Whyte, Joe Joyce, Daniel Dubois, and Tony Yoka.
“There’s loads of fresh meat for me to beat up on,” said Fury. “And there’s Flip Hrgovic, Dereck Chisora, Luis Ortiz, and Oleksandr Usyk. There’s still plenty of good heavyweights out there to fight,” said Fury.
If Fury can put together a string of victories over top heavyweights that spans ten years, he will make massive money. It’s hard to imagine how wealthy Fury can become if he stays unbeaten for the next ten years and is able to fight into his 40s.
These are some of the heavyweight’s Fury wild need to beat:
- Anthony Joshua x 2
- Deontay Wilder
- Daniel Dubois
- Oleksandr Usyk
- Dillian Whyte
- Dereck Chisora
- Filip Hrgovic
- Joe Joyce
- Adam Kownacki
- Andy Ruiz Jr
- Joseph Parker
- Tony Yoka
