By Charles Brun: Tyson Fury’s promoter Bob Arum says that they’re not going to pay Deontay Wilder a step aside and that they’re just going to go ahead and fight him on July 24th. The plan Arum has is simple, but it could go terribly wrong if Wilder wins.
Arum’s idea is for Fury to beat Wilder on July 24th, then face Anthony Joshua in November or December.
If Arum’s plans work, great, Fury gets two big paydays, and the U.S fans get what they want in seeing the Fury-Wilder III match they were asking for this year.
“We’re not paying Wilder to step aside,” Bob Arum said to ESPN. “It’s better to get rid of him and go about our business. We can make the Fury-Joshua fight for November or December.”
Interestingly, Arum is under the illusion that Fury can “get rid” of Wilder as if he’s dead certain of the outcome of their trilogy match. Considering that Wilder’s main weapon, his right hand, was out of commission for the second Fury clash last year, it’s not a lock that the trilogy will go in favor of the ‘The Gypsy King.’
Also, something wasn’t right about the second fight with the flapping gloves and rabbit punches that Fury was braining Wilder with all night. Wilder might have won the fight just with that one small change if you take away the rabbit shots.
Many American boxing fans preferred seeing Fury face Wilder next rather than Joshua, given the controversy surrounding their two previous fights.
Unfortunately, if the highly motivated, well-trained Wilder knocks Fury out cold as he did in their first fight in 2018, the dreams of a Fury-Joshua fight will be shattered, perhaps permanently.
Arum, of course, isn’t thinking of what could happen if the 6’7″ Deontay blows the flabby out of shape looking Fury out of the water with one stroke of his powerful right hand.
If anyone has seen Fury prancing around wearing gaudy clothes, looking like his mind is no longer in the fight game. Fury doesn’t look like he’s mentally focused on stepping into the ring by July 24th to fight anybody, let alone a knockout artist like Deontay Wilder. Fury looks like he’s already retired.
He reminds Charles Brun of how Amir Khan seemed to change after hitting it big with the money. He wasn’t the same fighter once the money started pouring in.
At this point in Fury’s life, he seems more interested in cruising around from place to place, living the life of the idle rich. Fury doesn’t appear to be interested in getting back into the hard work of being a professional athlete.
By taking the stubborn approach of not giving the talented former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) a step aside payment, Arum has essentially sunk the ship for the mega-money clash between Anthony Joshua and Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs).
Losing the August 14th Joshua – Fury fight is a major blow for ‘The Gypsy King,’ AJ, Matchroom Boxing, Top Rank, and the fans.
It may not seem like a big deal to Arum that the Joshua vs. Fury fight will be sacrificed, but it’s going to affect many other people now, which is why they need to consider paying Wilder the $40 million to step aside.