By Charles Brun: Deontay Wilder didn’t take long to respond to Tyson Fury after his comments on a British morning talk show about wanting to help him get over his loss.
The former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) let Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) that he’s “fine,” and he told him that he wants him to “honor your agreement” for a trilogy match.
Wilder and Fury were expected to fight several times in the last nine months, but a combination of injuries, the pandemic, and a lack of crowds caused the contest to be delayed.
The December 19th date for the Fury vs. Wilder III match didn’t work because of ESPN and FOX having busy schedules with college football games.
Instead of trying to squeeze the Fury-Wilder 3 pay-per-view match in that month, the match was pushed to January 2021. But Fury has decided he’s had enough of waiting for the trilogy match with the powerful Wilder, and he wants to stay active with a warm-up fight against Agit Kabayel on December 5th.
Wilder tells Fury: “give me my shot”
Hey @Tyson_Fury ,
Don’t worry about me I am Fine, Blessed.
The only thing I want from you is for you to honor your agreement and fight me. I gave you 2 shots when I didn’t have to and it changed your life. Now it is time for you to be a man and give me my shot as you agreed to.— Deontay Wilder (@BronzeBomber) November 12, 2020
So there it is; Wilder is letting Fury, 32, know that he’s “fine,” and he wants him to repay him in kind by giving him his shot after he gave him two title fights out of kindness. In 2018, former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay’s title defense against Fury was voluntary.
It was NOT a mandatory defense, as Fury had taken two soft opponents in Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pianeta after returning from a nearly three-year layoff. Wilder didn’t have to give Fury a helping hand by defending against him for their first fight in 2018.
After their fight was scored a 12 round draw, Wilder was under no obligation to give Fury a rematch. The 6’7″ Wilder could have moved on to bigger and better things like a unification match against IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
But Wilder wasn’t going to let Fury down by washing his hands of him and leaving him out in the cold. Wilder gave Fury the rematch last February, but it ended badly for the American with him getting stopped in the seventh.
Has Fury lost his nerve?
Now that Wilder is the needy one, Fury turns his back on him and chooses to walk away without giving him a rematch. This week, Fury even said he would “never” fight Wilder again. Now that Fury is in the position of power, he’s interested in throwing Wilder a bone.
According to Mike Coppinger, this week, mediation is expected to start for Wilder to enforce his rematch with Fury. Wilder’s management has a mediator that will look over the contracts for the fight and decide for the third match between them.
Some boxing fans believe Fury’s true motive for electing not to give Wilder a rematch is an inherent risk involved in facing him. One big stroke of his bazooka-like right hand, Wilder could end Fury’s visions of a high-paying unification bout against Anthony Joshua.