By Jeff Aronow: It’s becoming increasingly clear that Tyson Fury won’t be facing Anthony Joshua on August 14th as hoped. In a sign that the Joshua-Fury fight is dust, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman says his governing body is poised to sanction the arbitrator-ordered Fury vs. Deontay Wilder 3 trilogy match.
Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) is in a tough spot right now after losing his arbitration case with former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) earlier this week.
With the ruling handed down by arbitrator Daniel Weinstein, Fury has until September 15th to face Wilder. If Fury chooses to ignore the ruling, he could be sued.
Thus far, Fury and his promoters at Top Rank haven’t indicated that they’ll entertain the idea of paying Wilder a step aside so that the ‘Gypsy King’ can face Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) on August 14th in Saudi Arabia.
From a practical standpoint, it should be a simple matter of sitting down at the table with Team Wilder to come up with a suitable step aside amount. However, Fury’s stubborn resistance to paying Wilder a step aside will result in his $75 million purse for the August 14th Joshua fight evaporating into thin air.
Fury and Top Rank are dead set negotiating with the former champion Wilder to let the Joshua fight take place. As a result, Fury is now likely to face Wilder next, and the mega-fight with Joshua is a thing of the past.
“Yes, we will sanction Fury v Wilder on request,” WBC president Sulaiman said to the Daily Mail. “We are on board with Tyson and Anthony Joshua for the undisputed title but a fight between our distinguished current and former heavyweight champions is also an outstanding event.”
If Fury beats Wilder, he can still face Joshua in the fall, provided that AJ gets past his WBO mandatory Oleksandr Usyk in their fight in August. Those two are in the process of hammering out a deal.
As many boxing fans believe, Fury could be making a dreadful mistake in choosing not to give Wilder a step aside fee to avoid this risky fight. Fury obviously doesn’t want to lose a sizable portion of his purse for his first fight of a two-fight deal with Joshua, which would have paid him $75 million.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg for the money that Fury would have made for the first AJ fight. He would have likely made more money from the pay-per-view revenue as well as product endorsements.
So when you look at the $20 million that Wilder would have been given for a step aside, it’s very little compared to the money that Fury would have made for the fight with Joshua on August 14th.
If Fury chooses not to pay Wilder to step aside, all the money he would have made for the Joshua fight will be gone, perhaps permanently if he loses to the ‘Bronze Bomber.’
A loss to Wilder will surely mean that Fury will face him for the fourth time in late 2021, and that’s a contest that will have huge ramifications for career-earning power for the big British heavyweight.