The third battle between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder will occur later this year, scuppering Anthony Joshua’s plans to secure a British super-fight.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn had been looking into the possibility of laying out a substantial step-aside fee for Wilder, who has a clause in his contract for a third battle with Fury.
On Saturday, Wilder was defeated in seven rounds by Fury. He looked out-of-sorts at the MGM Grand and has already stated his intentions to invoke that stipulation.
Add to that the fact Joshua has a mandatory against Bob Arum and Top Rank-promoted Kubrat Pulev. There’s zero chance of a Fury bout in the coming months.
WBN gets consistently updated with goings-on by Wilder co-manager Shelly Finkel. Arum also stated his intention for Pulev to take the Joshua clash to an IBF purse bid.
More will come to light on March 3rd. The all-important process will occur, which means Joshua gets tied up anyway.
Fury agreed to a trilogy when signing on the dotted line for his triumphant rematch with Wilder, and as Arum confirmed to WBN, ‘The Gypsy King’ fully intends to honor his signature.
“What’s happening at the moment is that Fury has a contract with Wilder,” Arum exclusively told World Boxing News. “Wilder, unless he opts out, has the absolute right to call for the third fight based on a 60-40 split.
“As far as Fury is concerned, and as far as Top Rank are concerned, we are men of our word. We have a contract. We’re not running off to fight somebody else.
“We are not breaking the contract, and we are going to honor that contract with Wilder.”
WILDER
On the Las Vegas leg being a one-sided affair, Arum shrugged off calls on social media for Fury to skip another meeting with the “Bronze Bomber.”
“I think Wilder will give a much better performance in this fight than he did in the last fight,” predicted Arum. “But that’s it. End of Fury (vs Joshua) talk.”
Asked about UK rival Hearn using several media outlets to immediately bang the drum for Fury vs. Joshua, Arum seemed non-plussed by the Essex man’s continued efforts.
“At best, Eddie Hearn can only talk about one part of any fight (between Fury and Joshua). And that’s only if Joshua fights and beats Pulev.
“But again, Eddie is not talking for us. Frank Warren and I are the promoters of Fury. We will sit down when the appropriate time happens and work out the deal.”
Phil Jay – Editor of World Boxing News since 2010. Follow WBN on Twitter @WorldBoxingNews.
