By Matt Lieberman: Promoter Frank Warren says Deontay Wilder’s manager Shelly Finkel says his ‘The Bronze Bomber’ is confident ahead of his third match against Tyson Fury later this year. The two giant heavyweights still don’t have a date or a venue their trilogy match, but it could be in December.
To stage the Fury-Wilder 3 fight in front of fans, it may be necessary to take the contest to Australia, China, or the Middle East.
Team Wilder would like for the fight to take place in the United States, but that may not be possible because of problems finding a state that will allow a large crowd. Fury and Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) don’t want to give up the gate money for the fight.
Wilder’s punching power gives him a better than average chance of beating Fury in their third fight. As long as Wilder doesn’t get hurt early, he’s got a chance of ending the battle with a single right hand if he connects cleanly to Fury’s head.
Wilder will need to start a lot faster than he did in the rematch, and not let Fury back him up. When Wilder was going backward, he wasn’t sufficient and got the worst of it from Fury.
Illegal streams took a bite out of Wilder-Fury 2 PPV sales
The Wilder-Fury 2 rematch brought in between 800,000 to 850,000 pay-per-view buys in the U.S. This much outdid the 325,000 buys for the first Wilder vs. Fury fight in December 2018.
It sold for $79.99 per household. While the PPV numbers were respectable, they could have been much higher if not for the illegal streams. According to Wikipedia, between 10 to 20 million views of the Wilder vs. Fury 2 fight came from social media sites Facebook and Twitter. An additional 10 million came from illegal streaming websites.
You can imagine how successful the Fury vs. Wilder rematch would have been had there not been so many illegal steams. It’s mind-boggling to predict how many additional buys above the 850,000 it brought in.
For the third fight, the organizers need to claim down on the illegal streams, if possible. Even if they only reduce the number by five to ten million, the third Fury vs. Wilder clash would big numbers. That will help make up for the reduced gate revenue if only a small crowd is allowed to attend.
Wilder’s manager Finkel says he’s confident
“He feels that he can. I know speaking to Shelly Finkel his manager, he’s very, very confident. He believes he’s got the beating of Tyson. That remains to be seen,” said Warren to Sky Sports Boxing News on Wilder believing he can beat Fury.
“I think Tyson has got Deontay’s number,” said Warren. “I thought he won the first fight. Second fight he won it emphatically.
“I don’t know what Deontay can bring that’s any different from the previous two fights.
It’s only natural for Wilder to be confident going into the third fight with Fury. He knocked Fury down twice in their first fight. In their second fight last February, Fury did an excellent job of getting out of the way of Wilder’s early right-hand swings in rounds one and two.
In the third, Fury hit Wilder with a hard shot to his temple area that knocked him down. When Wilder rose to his feet, he was bleeding from his left ear, and his equilibrium was gone. Wilder did get his balance back after the knockdown, and his power disappeared as well.
After the fight, Wilder used a shotgun approach to find a reason to explain why he lost the match. He said his legs were tired from wearing a 40-pound outfit for his ring walk, and he then mentioned Fury, hitting him behind the head. The more reasonable rationale to explain Wilder’s missing power was the knockdown in the third.
That shot from Fury took everything ut of the 6’7″ Deontay, and he couldn’t generate the same level of punching power that he did for their first fight.
Wilder vows to rise again
“We will rise again. We will regain the title. I will be back. We will hold our heads up high. Your king is in great spirit. We will rise like a phoenix from the ashes and regain the title. I’ll see you in a few months. For the war has just begun,” said Wilder on his social media.
— Deontay Wilder (@BronzeBomber) February 29, 2020
Fury has since been crowned as the #1 heavyweight in the division for his victory over Wilder. The fans don’t care that Fury still hasn’t fought Dillian Whyte or Anthony Joshua. They still view him as #1.
For his part, Wilder was upset with his trainer Mark Breland for throwing in the towel in the seventh round. The Bronze Bomber would have instead gone out on his shield than have his fight with Fury stopped by his cornerman.
At the time Breland threw in the towel, Wilder was against the ropes and taking big shots from Fury. It looked like Wilder was waiting to throw a sneaky right hand, but he never got a chance to let it go because of the fight being stopped.
The third Fury-Wilder match was supposed to take place this summer on July 18, but the pandemic caused the fight to be moved off that date.
Arum looking at November or December
Fury’s promoter Bob Arum says the fight can take place in November or December, but not earlier. He says the match can’t take place without an audience Arum wonders whether fans will want to travel to the States to watch Wilder and Fury battle in Las Vegas.
Arum adds that the fight could also take place next year, but he’s hoping to get it done in November or December. The only downside of the Fury-Wilder 3 fight taking place in the fall is the threat of the COVID-19 virus becoming worse at that time of year with the dreaded second phase.
Fury will get a 60/40 split, as per the rematch clause in the contract. The winner of the Wilder vs. Fury rematch last February would be allowed a 60/40 split.
