By Allan Fox: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum expects the contracts to be inked by WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and former WBC champion Deontay Wilder within the next coming days. Fury and Wilder have been agreed to fight the trilogy match.
Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) has a new trainer in Malik Scott, who is changing his fighting style to help him beat Fury. Recently, Wilder parted ways with his former trainers Jay Deas and Mark Breland.
The only question on that end was whether Fury and his promoters at Top Rank would give Wilder a step aside.
Team Fury has chosen not to give Wilder a step aside, which means they likely feel confident that he’ll win. It’s a questionable move for Fury not to pay Wilder a step aside because he’s losing the $75 million that he would have received for an August 14th clash against Anthony Joshua.
Fury will enjoy a 64-40 split
ESPN reports that Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) will have a 60-40 split over Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) for their third clash due to the rematch contract from their previous fight in February 2020.
Fury had been trying to squirm out of the contract with Wilder so that he could chase a better-paying match against IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua for August 14th, but that plan failed this week.
The arbitrator looked at the contract for their last fight in February 2020 and ruled in Wilder’s favor that Fury must face him by September 15th. Arum has already booked the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the Fury vs. Wilder 3 fight. The date of the Fury-Wilder III fight will be July 24th.
“I’ll smoke Wilder first; then you will get yours [as well],” Fury tweeted at Joshua on Tuesday.
“That’s too bad because Fury left no doubt in the second fight, and if Wilder couldn’t beat him at the point in the first time, how is he going to beat him, seeing how he’s progressed?” said Max Kellerman to ESPN.
Deontay must deal with Fury’s weight
“It’s not the 50-lb bodysuit that Deontay Wilder wore into the ring. It’s the 50-pound Tyson Fury [weight advantage],” Kellerman continued. “Deontay is so proud, he’s really good, but he’s outweighed by 50 lbs by the best slick boxing heavyweight in the world. How does he win?”
“I’m not sure he can,” said Mark Kriegel about Wilder’s chances of beating Fury. “How does he win? He wins by hitting Fury with that right hand.
“The question is, can he hold off Fury? Can he box well enough to get him in a position to score with that right hand and score in a really meaningful way?
“I don’t think he’s going to outbox Tyson Fury. You don’t change who you are at this point, and I’m curious what happens now that he’s lost, Mark Breland?
“Does that matter, or does that not matter? Can Malik Scott, who is a trusted guy in that camp, can he change Deontay Wilder just enough?” said Kriegel.
One way for Wilder to handle the 50-lb weight advantage for Fury is for him to use movement and not stand in front of the huge 270+ lb ‘Gypsy King.’
In their last fight in February of 2020, the 231 lb Wilder stood stationary, allowing Fury to get in close and rough him up with clubbing punches.
Fury played it fast and loose, bending the rules a bit by repeatedly hitting Wilder to the back of his head with rabbit punches. At the same time, the ineffectual referee Kenny Bayless stood by and did nothing to address the fouling.
Wilder’s fighting style can’t be changed
“You’re not going to put any real fundamental change at this point, but can he modify his style just enough to get him in a position to use that right hand? I don’t know,” said Kriegel.
“You don’t change who you are at this point unless you’re Tyson Fury, who kind of changed everything about his style and employed it against Deontay Wilder in their rematch,” said Kellerman.
“But you make a good point about the right hand. No matter what we say right now, ding-ding, Deontay Wilder is in the ring, and you’re always on the edge of your seat because all he has to do is hit you one time right with the right hand, and he can turn out the lights.
“It would be a shame if we don’t get Joshua vs. Fury next, but there are lots of shames in boxing.
“First, the fights happening on August 14th,” Kellerman said about the Joshua vs. Fury fight. “An arbitrator ruled that Deontay after they [Joshua and Fury] thought they had a fight, ruled that he is due a fight against Tyson Fury.
“That has got to happen by September 15th. At first, when I heard this, I thought there would be a large step aside fee, and we’d go on. Now apparently the whole thing is scuttled, and Joshua has to fight [Oleksandr] Usyk, and who knows what else?” said Kellerman.
Arum wasn’t bluffing about the Fury-Wilder fight
“The WBO moved to have Usyk finally get his shot,” said Kriegel. “I thought, ‘This is boxing, don’t believe anyone’s first words.’ Bob Arum told me, ‘We’re not paying any step aside money.’
“I didn’t know if he was bluffing or not; now I think he’s not. Top Rank has booked Allegiant Stadium [in Las Vegas, Nevada] for the 24th of July. If that date doesn’t go through, I’m hearing on August 14th.
“But it looks like right now, the next big heavyweight fight that we’re going to see is the last big heavyweight fight that we saw, Fury – Wilder,” said Kriegel.
Up to a point, Wilder can change just by using movement, which is the easy part for him because he’s light on his feet. Just by not being stationary, Wilder can make it a different fight against Fury than the first two.
Bradley: Fury knows Wilder’s weaknesses
“Tyson Fury knows Wilder’s weaknesses. He knows that he has to push you back and get in your face,” said Tim Bradley to ESPN.
“I think it’s going to be pretty difficult for Wilder to pull off a victory, but at the end of the day, you still have to give respect to Wilder because he does possess that right hand that only needs to land one time at the right spot — and it’s lights out,” said Bradley.
If Wilder can land one of his big shots, he’s got a chance of winning, but he will have a tough time winning rounds. His jab isn’t that great, and he’s still not showing much of a left hand in the workout clips that he’s posted on social media.
Fury and Wilder fought to a 12 round draw in their first fight in 2018 in a competitive match. The outcome was controversial depending on which fighter the fans favored. Fury’s boxing fans believed that he deserved a 12 round decision, as he outboxed Wilder in 10 of the 12 rounds.
However, Wilder fans point that he knocked Fury out cold in the 12th, and then the referee inexplicably gave a count to the unconscious fighter. That’s something you don’t see in this era.
Also, the fans believe that the referee took his time in starting the count and that if he’d just walked over to the unconscious Fury and started counting right away, he would have counted him out.
Nevertheless, how it played out looked strange and out of place with how referees deal with knocked-out fighters nowadays.
For that reason, you can argue that the first fight should have an asterisk next to it because it was handled oddly during the crucial 12th round.
Some fans that watched that believed that Fury was given special treatment that a normal fighter wouldn’t have if Wilder had knocked them out.
