Shelly Finkel’s comments to World Boxing News recently were ratified in a radio interview by WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder this weekend.
‘The Bronze Bomber’ appeared on Sirius XM’s Fight Nation 93 on Friday to reveal further details of an ESPN offer.
Wilder was wanted for a rematch with Tyson Fury this year, but only on the stipulation he appeared on the TV network for multiple fights.
Rejecting the deal out of hand, Wilder was keen to face Fury next. And didn’t see the need for an interim bout.
Finkel, in an exclusive interview, told WBN last week: “We did receive an offer from Top Rank which included a multi-fight deal with Deontay.
“The deal effectively meant signing Deontay over to them. It included a purse for a fight before the Tyson Fury rematch. But we didn’t want to – and are not going to – give up our fighter up to them.
“If we wanted to do a fight beforehand, we would do it ourselves.”
Speaking to Randy Gordon, Wilder stated his free agent status took a lot of people by surprise.
The exchange went like this:
Randy: Top rank according to Shelly Finkel said that had you signed to fight fury they wanted a multi-fight deal with you. Is that true?
Deontay: As most of them, of course I’m the most desired heavyweight in the world. You ou know a lot of these networks is coming out because I revealed that I was a free agent.
“You know before I did, I didn’t make no notion. I didn’t indicate that I wanted to fight with them (ESPN) or if I was with someone else.
“Everybody thought I was with Showtime because I was always fighting on the Showtime platform. Things of that nature.
“Well, when I came out to say oh I didn’t a I’m a free agent. That’s where everything went crazy. We got a lot of deals on the table. But yeah. They went to four fights (with their offer) or whatever.”
.@BronzeBomber Wilder confirms that the only way for him to have the rematch with Tyson Fury was to sign with ESPN/Top Rank.@CommishRandyG @gerrycooney #WilderFury2 #boxing pic.twitter.com/lHdcSOTV9K
— SiriusXM Boxing (@SiriusXMBoxing) March 2, 2019
BREAZEALE
Since then, reports of a two-fight deal from Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn have surfaced in what has become a free-for-all to grab TV rights to Wilder.
Showing loyalty to Finkel and Showtime, Wilder looks set to stick with his current platform for a spring return to action.
On what he’ll do now since the Fury rematch is dead, Wilder says it’s likely to be Dominic Breazeale in May.
Now that a rematch with Tyson Fury is not in the cards, what’s next for @BronzeBomber at this point? He tells @CommishRandyG @gerrycooney who he has in mind and for when.#WilderFury2 #boxing pic.twitter.com/Ruy1DpfJcR
— SiriusXM Boxing (@SiriusXMBoxing) March 2, 2019
Massive battles with Anthony Joshua and Fury could now be off the table until late 2019 or beyond.
