Frank Warren says Tyson Fury’s next fight in February or March in U.S

By Boxing News - 11/16/2020 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Tyson Fury’s promoter Frank Warren says they were unable to go through with the Gypsy King’s December 5th fight without fans, so they’re now looking at February or March for his next fight.

Fury now could be facing Deontay Wilder next in the U.S, especially if the arbitration meeting is ruled in the Bronze Bomber’s favor.

A mediator is going over the contract from the rematch clause from the last Fury-Wilder fight in February, and he’s expected to make a decision soon. If Fury has to fight Wilder next, he’ll be risking his well-paying unification match against Anthony Joshua in 2021.

Wilder could wreck Fury’s dream fight with Joshua with a single mighty right hand to the head in February or March.

Fury vs. Kabayel couldn’t work without fans

Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) had planned on facing Agit Kabayel, a fight that would have made it next to impossible to sell on pay-per-view.

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn predicted weeks ago that the Fury-Kabayel fight wouldn’t happen because he didn’t see the money being there for the fight. It was too level of a contest to sell it on pay-per-view.

Image: Frank Warren says Tyson Fury's next fight in February or March in U.S

With Fury wanting to get back into the ring as quickly as possible, he couldn’t just sit and wait for the pandemic to one day disappear before taking his soft fight against the little known Kabayel.

Fury had to give up on the Kabayel fight, and that means we could be seeing him risking his hide against an angry Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) next February or March.

‘Tyson hasn’t been in the ring since defeating Wilder and he really didn’t want to be out for a full year or more and was eager to box again for his home fans,” said Frank Warren to Daily Mail.

“We did everything we could to get December 5 done but between Top Rank, and ESPN. We could not find a way to make it work without fans during the Covid pandemic.”

Many boxing fans had major doubts about Fury fighting Kabayel when the news of that fight first surfaced. The fans wondered where the money would come from for the Fury-Kabayel fight, as there wouldn’t be a crowd, and it was too weak of a match-up to sell on pay-per-view.

If Fury had taken on a good opponent like Alexander Povetkin or ‘Stone Man’ Filip Hrgovic, he might have been able to sell his December 5th fight on PPV.

Wilder could be next for Fury

To select a bottom-ranked contender like Kabayel, the fight would have flopped had it gone down. According to Chris Mannix, Fury has “big guarantees” as far as his purses, and there wouldn’t be a way to bring in the revenue without crowds and a mediocre opponent.

It took many fans by surprise when Fury suddenly showed interest in facing Kabayel, as the fight was a tremendous backward step for him. Fury had talked so boldly about himself and his willingness to fight the next, and then he turns around walks away from the third fight with the dangerous KO artist Wilder to face a spoiler in Kabayel.

Image: Frank Warren says Tyson Fury's next fight in February or March in U.S

“ESPN holds the TV contract rights over there to his forthcoming fights so it’s the U.S next for Tyson in late February or March,” said Warren.

“Although our priority has always been the big fight with Joshua, ideally that would be in the UK.

“So we now await the judge’s findings in America with regard to Wilder. That is still a huge fight in its own right.”