By Barry Holbrook: Deontay Wilder works with his management behind the scenes to force a trilogy match against Tyson Fury through dispute resolution. The former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) believes he’s owed the third fight from Fury, who beat him earlier this year by a seventh-round knockout.
Mike Coppinger of The Athletic says Wilder has initiated the dispute resolution provision in the rematch contract to force his third fight with Fury.
Wilder had a rematch clause in the contract for his second fight with Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) on February 22nd, and he’s already exercised the rematch clause. He wants his contractually-obligated rematch.
Fury, 32, has other ideas, choosing to move on and fight on December 5th against Agit Kabayel. ‘The Gypsy King’ and his promoters believe that the rematch contract has expired. Fury and his promoters believe that he’s not obligated legally to fight Wilder again, and they intend on moving on.
Even though the fight that Fury wants against Agit Kabayel will likely make considerably less money than he’d have gotten against Wilder, that appears to be the direction he’s going in.
The mediation could start this week with a mediator, a retired judge will be given the contracts from the Fury vs. Wilder 2 fight, and he’ll look them over.
“We’re going into it very optimistically this week,” Wilder’s co-manager, Shelly Finkel, told The Athletic.
It’s confusing to understand why Fury doesn’t wish to stick it out with Wilder to fight him a third time. The money that Fury receives will be excellent, and he could further build his two-fight deal with IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua if he comes into those fights with a win over Wilder.
Perhaps a good reason why Fury wouldn’t want to fight Wilder again is his present danger. Fury was put down on the canvas twice by Wilder in their first fight in 2018, and some believe the referee gave him a break after he was knocked unconscious in the 12th.
Given what Wilder did to Fury in the first fight, it’s no wonder why he wouldn’t want to fight him a third time. Losing to Wilder would put a damper on his two-fight deal with Joshua next year.
Yes, Fury could still move forward to fight Joshua coming off of a loss to Wilder, but the contest likely wouldn’t bring in nearly as many pay-per-view buys as it would if Fury came into the match still unbeaten. Hence, Fury should avoid Wilder at all costs to make sure that he doesn’t potentially lose.
Fury and Wilder were supposed to fight on December 19th, but ESPN and Fox felt the date wasn’t right for a pay-per-view fight. The next plan was to have Fury-Wilder 3 take place in 2021. But Fury decided he wanted to fight in December on the 5th, but not against Wilder.
If the mediator decides that Fury must face Wilder, it’ll be up to him to decide whether he wants to do that are not.