By William Lloyd: An angry Tyson Fury took to social media to label Deontay Wilder a “Reptile” in reaction to him asking for what he appears to believe to be an outrageously high $20 million step aside payment to move from the path of his lucrative undisputed championship match against Anthony Joshua on August 14th.
It doesn’t help Fury to lash out at Wilder for something that he did to himself by choosing not to honor his rematch clause with the American. None of this would be an issue if Fury held up his side of the bargain by giving Wilder his contractual rematch.
Fury is now being forced to fight the former WBC heavyweight champion, Wilder, after losing his arbitration case with him earlier this week on Monday. The arbitrator, Daniel Weinstein, has slotted September 15th as the deadline for when Fury must face Wilder.
Tyson wants Wilder to go away
Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) obviously wants Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) to move out of the way of his massive payday fight against Joshua on August 14th, but he appears to be reluctant to part with $20 million of his $75 million+ purse that he’ll be receiving for the AJ clash.
Although Fury’s co-promoter Bob Arum said this week that he’s ready to schedule the trilogy match with Wilder for July 24th at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, it’s believed that’s bluster on his part.
Arum obviously knows the money that Fury will make fighting Wilder will be a trifle compared to the purse he’ll bring in fighting Joshua. Not only that, Wilder can positively ruin Fury’s hopes of ever getting a similar $75 million purse against Joshua if he knocks him out.
That’s crucial on Arum’s part not to let emotions get in the way of working a deal with Wilder to have him step aside. It’s inconvenient how the Wilder situation has popped up like this, but there was always the possibility that Fury would lose the arbitration case with the Bronze Bomber.
Wilder activated the rematch clause in his contract with Fury shortly after losing to him last year in February.
The two would have fought last year if not for pandemic getting in the way of the fight and Wilder’s subsequent right bicep surgery.
With all that delaying the Fury vs. Wilder 3 fight from being made, Arum should have known that it wouldn’t be a good idea to attempt to have ‘The Gypsy King’ walk away from his contract with Deontay. In playing Monday morning quarterback, it’s easy to view this as a total blunder on Fury’s part in choosing not to fight Wilder.
If Fury had done that, he could have gotten the Wilder trilogy match out of the way in February or March. Fury then would have been able to face Joshua on August 14th without worry. It’s a good lesson. You don’t walk away from contracts.
Fury calls Wilder a “Joker” for wanting $20 million
“This is how I’m feeling right now, I’m on the inside fighting smashing stuff up, & my next opponent is getting smashed to bits!” said Tyson Fury on Instagram in showing himself fighting on the inside.
“Asked for $20m to move over, joker. Looks like I have to [fight him] again,” said Fury on Twitter about Wilder supposedly wanting $20 million for a step aside deal.
Right now, Fury should be focusing on lighting a fire under his promoter Arum’s backside to make sure he works out a step aside deal that Wilder will agree to. Fury can’t afford to lose out on the August 14th fight because it’s too risky, and who knows what could happen with Joshua.
If Fury doesn’t face him on August 14th, Joshua will need to defend against his WBO mandatory Oleksandr Usyk, and that’s a fight he could lose. Usyk is a crafty fighter with a great deal of boxing ability and experience on the amateur and professional levels.
If Joshua loses to Usyk, it would be the same thing as Fury getting beaten by Wilder. The money that Fury would make in the future against a beaten Joshua likely won’t be anywhere near the $75+ million he would have received.
“The contract between Fury and Wilder is pretty straightforward in terms of percentages,” said Chris Mannix to DAZN Boxing. “Because Fury won the second fight with Wilder, he’s entitled to 60% of the total revenue.
“Wilder gets 40%. There’s nothing in that contract about the minimum. Because Wilder-Fury 2 underperformed at the pay-per-view box office, it only generating 900,000 pay-per-view buys when the expectations were well over one million.
Deontay should take a step aside
“In other words, the money Wilder would be guaranteed [for a Fury trilogy] might not be that significant as he would want it to be.
“So if there is an eight-figure step aside fee for Deontay Wilder, it might make more financial sense to take that money and go on and take an in-between type of fight.
“Coming off a loss that bad [against Fury], maybe it’s in his [Deontay] best interest 18 months after the fact to go out there and take one of those stepping stone types of fights.
“Take a Charles Martin type of fights to rebuild himself to a degree heading into a future fight against Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua [near the end of the year]. So there are some strong reasons for Deontay Wilder to look at an offer like that positively,” said Mannix.
It’s clearly in Wilder’s best interest to agree to a step aside deal if he’s given a respectable offer. Wilder can make more money in the long run by agreeing to a step aside payment now and then facing the winner of the Joshua vs. Fury fight in November or December.
It will be a massive payday for Wilder if he faces the last man standing between those two. Also, Wilder can rebuild his name by beating someone like Charles Martin in between that fight. Martin, Andy Ruiz Jr, or Dillian Whyte would be ideal for Wilder to fight next. Whyte, Daniel Dubois, or Joe Joyce would be perfect for Wilder to build up interest between him and the Joshua – Fury winner.