Tyson Fury tells Deontay Wilder: “I’m not going to wait forever”

By Boxing News - 08/22/2020 - Comments

By Max Seitelman: Tyson Fury is growing tired of waiting for former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, and his management to face him this year in a trilogy match. The two were supposed to fight each other last July. However, the pandemic has gotten in the way of the contest.

If Fury grows impatient and gives up on the Wilder trilogy match, then he would need to face his WBC mandatory Dillian Whyte in a smaller-money fight.

Fury’s co-promoter Bob Arum is interested in waiting until crowds are allowed to return to boxing events before staging the fight. December 19th is the tentative date for the Fury-Wilder 3 fight, but Arum is considering having them wait until February if possible so they can battle it out in front of a live gate.

Fury has other fighters he wants to face

There’s a great deal of money that Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) and Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) can make if they wait until crowds can attend their third fight. It’s perfectly understandable why Arum would want to wait until fans are allowed back in, but he may not get his way.

Fury and his other promoter Frank Warren want to get the Wilder clash out of the way in 2020, and then move on to bigger and better things like the unification clash against IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs).

Image: Tyson Fury tells Deontay Wilder: "I'm not going to wait forever"

Fury scored a 7th round stoppage over previously unbeaten Wilder last February in Las Vegas, Nevada. Wilder, 34, hit the deck in rounds three and five. In the seventh, the cornerman for Wilder, Mark Breland, threw in the towel to protect him.

Some boxing fans believe that Wilder doesn’t fancy a third fight with Fury, and he’s stalling because he doesn’t want to face him again.

What’s strange is Wilder hasn’t been trash-talking in the media about Fury ever since his loss, and that makes people believe that his defeat has shattered his confidence.

Nevertheless, Wilder invoked his rematch clause for the third clash, and the fight most likely will take place at some point, be it in December or next year.

Should Tyson vacate his WBC title?

‘The Gypsy King’ Fury is being put under a great deal of pressure by his WBC mandatory challenger Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs) and his promoter Eddie Hearn to face him by February of 2021 or risk being stripped of his WBC title.

The world Boxing Council already told Whyte, 32, that he could challenge for the WBC title by next February.

Image: Tyson Fury tells Deontay Wilder: "I'm not going to wait forever"

If Fury doesn’t fight Whyte, then he’ll be stripped of his WBC belt unless he vacates it first. Whyte is fighting this Saturday night against Alexander Povetkin in a highly publicized contest on DAZN and Sky Box Office at the Matchroom Boxing Fight Camp in Brentwood, Essex.

Fury could vacate his WBC title to move forward to face Joshua for two contests in 2021, but Hearn is saying that AJ won’t fight him if he gives up his belt. The reality is likely different. Hearn promotes Whyte, and it helps him and Matchroom if Fury holds onto his WBC title and defends it against Dillian.

However, it also potentially helps Joshua and Hearn in another way for Fury to face Whyte. If Fury loses to Whyte, that helps protect Joshua from possibly getting beaten by him, and that keeps the money rolling in for Hearn and Matchroom.

It works in Hearn and Matchroom’s favor for Fury to hold onto his WBC title and defend it against Whyte.

The boxing public much prefers to see Fury face Joshua rather than waste time by fighting Whyte, but that might not happen. It doesn’t help Hearn or Matchroom if Fury vacates this WBC title without fighting Whyte, which is why it would be a gamble for him to give up the belt.

It helps Hearn for Fury to face Whyte

If Hearn is serious about Joshua not facing Fury if he doesn’t have the WBC title, then he’ll lose out on the big-money AJ clashes in 2021 by not meeting Dillian. But if Fury does face Whyte and loses to him, then he won’t get the fight against Joshua either.

Image: Tyson Fury tells Deontay Wilder: "I'm not going to wait forever"

The fact that Hearn is willing to game having the Joshua-Fury fights go down the drain suggests that he’s more concerned with Joshua losing to Fury than he is in putting them together for a big pay fight.

Yes, the money will be huge for two Joshua vs. Fury fights, but if AJ gets beaten by him in one or both contests, then his earning potential could be irreparably harmed. It’s not just Joshua that would lose out in terms of his earning potential in getting beaten once or twice by Fury. It would be Harn and Matchroom that would be hurt as well.

Wilder, 6’7”, had surgery on his right biceps in 2020, and there’s speculation that he’s still not 100% after all this time. With Wilder not saying anything about wanting the fight with Fury, it suggests that his biceps might not be ready for him to compete this year.

Wilder needs to be 100% to face Fury

As it is, Wilder is a one-armed fighter, which relies entirely on his right hand to win his fights. He’s never developed his left hand for anything, so he can’t rely on that if his right arm isn’t ready by December for a trilogy match against Fury.

Image: Tyson Fury tells Deontay Wilder: "I'm not going to wait forever"

It won’t be in Fury’s best interest to give up on the third clash against Wilder because that’s his best chance of a big-money fight other than Joshua. Fury vs. Whyte won’t sell in the United States, as American boxing fans have no clue who Dillian is, and that’s not going to change anytime soon.

Although Whyte is fighting tonight against 40-year-old Povetkin on DAZN, a lot of U.S fans won’t see the contest. A lot of Americans don’t subscribe to DAZN. Some of them that previously had subscribed suspended their accounts during the lockdown.