By Chris Williams: Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury could be fighting in November or December, possibly outside of the United States, according to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum. He says the location of the fight will work for prime time in the U.S. The fight WON’T be in the U.K. either, says Arum.
He would like to stage the trilogy bout between WBC heavyweight champion Fury (30-0-1, 21 K.O.s) and former WBC belt-holder Wilder (42-1-1, 41 K.O.s) to take place in the USA if possible, but it’s looking like it’ll take place outside of the country.
That’ll go over real good with the American fans. It’s a good thing that Wilder isn’t a world champion any longer because the U.S. fans would be furious if they had to travel to see him fight if he were still the countries heavyweight champion.
Location still being decided
If Arum stages the Wilder-Fury 3 fight in China, he could upset a lot of boxing fans because that’s too far and too expensive for them to travel to watch the match. Arum was recently hoping to stage the Jose Ramirez vs. Viktor Postol match in China, but the pandemic foiled his plans.
“It may very well be that we might have to do it out of the U.S., out of the U.K.,’ said Arum to ESPN.com. “We’re working for a location. We have two possibilities to do that fight, appropriate for prime time in the United States.”
The best locations for the third Fury-Wilder fight are in the U.K. or the U.S. If Arum comes up a strange place for the battle by staging in Macau, China, it’s going to be upsetting for the fans. You can imagine Fury and Wilder won’t be pleased to have to fight out there, but Arum will probably get his way.
A good option would be for Arum to stage the Wilder vs. Fury III fight in nearby Canada. Putting the battle there would be almost as good as stepping in the U.S. It wouldn’t be too far for Fury’s British fans to have to travel to see the fight, and that country might be a little more lenient when it comes to allowing large crowds to watch live sporting events.
Arum looking for the best location
He’s going to find the location that will pay the most significant site fee, and Wilder and Fury won’t want to say no to it if the money is better than what they would get fighting elsewhere.
Fury needs to win this fight to set up the unification clash with IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in 2021. Wilder will be in the position of the spoiler in facing Fury. The 6’7″ American has nothing to lose at this point, considering that he’s already being counted out by virtually the entire world.
No one is giving Wilder a ghost of a chance in the trilogy match with Fury, so there won’t be any pressure on him. Wilder can go out that and swing for the fences with every shot to look to fell the giant Fury. If Wilder lands one of the dominant right hands, he could spoil the party for the 31-year-old Fury, and take his place as the guy that faces A.J. next year.
Deontay coming off a brutal loss
Wilder lost his WBC belt to Fury by a seventh-round knockout in their rematch earlier this year on February 23 in Las Vegas. The 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Wilder never got untracked in that fight. Fury came into the match weighing 271 pounds, and he enjoyed a substantial 41-pound weight advantage over Deontay.
Givin up that much size, Wilder was forced to back up under pressure from Fury, who fought aggressively throughout the fight. Where Wilder went wrong was him backing up against the ropes and letting Fury unload on him with his clubbing shots. Wilder should have used movement to prevent Fury from using his size on him, but he didn’t think of doing that.
Most boxing fans believe the third fight will be a repeat of the second one with Fury using his bulk to bulldoze Wilder. We’ll have to see if that’s the case.
