By: Sean Crose
According to ESPN, Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder already have a date for their third fight: July 24th. Unsurprisingly, the battle will go down in Las Vegas. This quickly comes on the heels of stunning news earlier this week that an arbitrator ruled the two fighters needed to fight again by September 15th. That happened on the heels of news that WBC and lineal heavyweight champ Fury was set to face fellow heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder in August. Although many, this writer included, suspected matters would descend into muck and chaos, it looks like Fury-Wilder 3 negotiations are moving smoothing and quickly.
“Top Rank’s Bob Arum,” ESPN writes, “told ESPN he expects the contracts to be signed in the coming days. Purses are split 60-40 in Fury’s favor for this trilogy fight, according to (ESPN’s Mark) Kriegel.” Although the public doesn’t seem to be clamoring for a third fight between the two super sized heavyweights, the bad blood that appears to have emerged from the second bout between Fury and Wilder might make this third battle more of a draw than it otherwise might have been. Whether animosity will lead to pay per view buys – and this fight will almost undoubtedly air on pay per view – remains to be seen. There’s little doubt, though, that drama sells.
Fury and Wilder first met in 2018. The fight was close, but Fury appeared to have the edge going into the final round. It was in the 12th, however, that Wilder landed one of his lauded power shots. Fury crashed to the canvas, seemingly finished, but was shockingly able to get up, leading to the match being ruled a draw. The second battle between the two men was far more one sided, with Fury, under the tutelage of Sugar Hill Steward, fighting aggressively and stopping Wilder in the seventh due to Wilder’s corner halting the proceedings.
Since that time, Wilder has screamed foul, saying he was set up to fail, even going so far as to blame trainer Mark Breland of treachery. All of which, of course, might make the lead up to this third pairing rather colorful. Fans may not get an undisputed heavyweight champion like they would have had Fury faced Joshua, but there’s little doubt any pairing of Fury and Wilder we be nothing if not interesting…at least before the opening bell. Fury promoter Bob Arum has indicated he’d like to see his fighter face Joshua for all the marbles later this year.
