By Scott Gilfoid: Derek Chisora says promoter Eddie Hearn should have met with Deontay Wilder and offered him a $40 million step aside loot so that the Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury fight could have gone ahead as scheduled on August 14th in Saudi Arabia. It’s too late now. Fury is scheduled to face Deontay on July 24th, and what will be will be.
It appears that greed was the overriding reason why Wilder wasn’t offered a step aside. Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) and his team believe they can beat Wilder again, so why pay him a shilling to step aside? So much arrogance.
But if it turns out that they’re wrong, there’s going to be a lot of second-guessing going on about their decision not to offer Deontay a step aside. $40 million is just a trifle compared to the $60 million that Fury was expected to get for the AJ fight.
If Fury if gets blasted out by the 6’7″ Deontay on July 24th, it’s going to be bad. What a mess Fury and his team have made of things. This could have been so easy if they’d simply paid Deontay his asking price to step aside so that the mega-fight between AJ and Fury could happen.
The money Fury will be making from the Wilder trilogy is just a drop in the pocket compared to the pot of gold he would have received for the Joshua fight.
Chisora believes that if Hearn had offered Wilder $40M with the promise that he could fight the winner of the Joshua vs. Fury fight later this year, he would have accepted the deal.
With the money that Joshua and Fury were both expected to get for their August 14th fight, it wouldn’t have been a hardship for them to come up with the $40M to put it in the kitty for Wilder to step aside.
Who knows? Hearn could have gone back to the Saudis with his “begging paw” and asked them for the loot to pay former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs), and they might have agreed to do it.
Hearn should have given Wilder $40 million
“I think Deontay Wilder would do it if Eddie [Hearn] gets on the blower or flys his private jet, goes to Alabama, sits down with Deontay Wilder, and says, ‘Tyson & AJ are going to make 100 [million], but to keep your sweet, we’re going to give you a little 40 for now,’” said Derek Chisora to iFL TV on a step aside deal that should have been offered to Wilder.
“Deontay would come back and say, ‘I’ll take the 40 [million], but I want to fight the [Joshua vs. Fury] winner, so it’s not a two-fight deal anymore. It’s a one-fight deal, the winner takes all, and the winner fights me,'” Chisora continued. “That’s it, and then we have a fight.
“Do a one-fight deal, get it done, and let’s roll. If that’s on the table, Deontay Wilder would take it 100%. I would take it.
“If Eddie flys up there and says, ‘Let’s give you some step aside money, and we sign a one-fight deal between the two fighters, and you fight the winner.’
“Yes, it’ll happen. Let’s take that for now, AJ & Fury one-fight deal, winner takes all. It’s not going to happen, is it?” Chisora said.
Chisora sounds like he should have been in charge to try and salvage the Joshua vs. Fury fight.
But obviously, Fury would rather walk away from Joshua fight because he’s been bellyaching from day one about his need for a tune-up.
Chisora predicted Fury wouldn’t get Joshua fight
“I would love to see the [Joshua-Fury] fight, but we’re not going to see the fight this year,” said Chisora.
“We might see it in December if both fighters come out right [against Wilder and Oleksandr Usyk].
“I knew this was going to happen because the law is the law. The contract is a contract. If they break the contract because this [Joshua vs. Fury] is a bigger fight, that means everything we do in boxing is crap.
“Everybody was counting all these eggs, ‘We’re going to make all this money,’ but they forgot one silent person in that contract and it was Deontay Wilder.
“AJ wanted the fight, and he was all geared up. But don’t worry, people, we’re going to Saudi in December. If everything comes out right for these two fighters, December. It’ll be fireworks.
“When Deontay Wilder fought Tyson Fury, he didn’t have any energy. He had a bad day in the office, and it was the wrong time to have a bad day in the office.
“If AJ comes through Usyk, and Fury comes through Wilder, we’re going to Saudi in December, 100%,” said Chisora.
You could see that Fury was likely to lose his arbitration case ages ago, as he was under contract, and you can’t walk away just because you see a bigger-money fight you’re interested in. It was pure and utter lunacy for Fury to try and weasel out of his contract with Deontay.
