Top Rank boss Bob Arum has exclusively told WBN that Deontay Wilder is not on the Tyson Fury agenda for 2019.
The pair, who ended up sharing a split draw in December, were expected to fight next before Fury put pen to paper on a lucrative deal with Top Rank.
In an interview this weekend, Arum outlined Fury’s schedule. He also revealed Wilder is in his plans, but not in the immediate future.
Tyson Fury opponent set, Bob Arum tells WBN
“Assuming he (Fury) wins this fight, he’ll have another appearance in the United States. Then hopefully next year in February he’ll end up fighting Wilder,” Arum exclusively told World Boxing News.
“Their idea is to have Wilder fight twice on their platform and then to get together a do a PPV fight. ESPN is just a distributor.
“It may well be that Wilder also has a network involved. They may want to share the distribution in some way with ESPN and that is something we’ve done before.”
The showdown ended in controversial circumstances with many believing Fury deserved the nod despite being knocked down twice in the fight.
With Arum aiming for the super-fight to take place in February next year, the iconic promoter wants both fighters to have in hand in selecting the officials.
“I gave Fury ten of the twelve rounds. People see things different, I think that if both sides have to mutually approve the judges, which is the way it should be. It should be like a jury trial. You have a full idea of the jurors. In essence, both sides are more or less satisfied with the jury.
“This should be the same in a big boxing match where officials, judges and referees are proposed. You should have an agreement by both sides on the judges and the referee – that would be fair.
“I don’t think whether the fight was in California, Nevada or New York makes a difference. As long as both participants participate in the selection of the judges and the referee.”
TOM SCHWARZ
In his first fight since signing with Top Rank, Fury will lace the gloves up against Germany’s Tom Schwarz in Paradise, Nevada.
Fury signed a lucrative deal at the turn of 2019 with the promotional company. The former world champion will be fighting for the first time since his contest with Wilder.
While some have questioned the choice of opponent for Fury, Arum explained why Schwarz was the perfect candidate.
“We wanted to get a guy who hadn’t tasted a loss. Tyson is such a big, big guy, we didn’t want to put him in with a small guy and Schwarz is a big, big guy. It will make a really compelling fight.
“He was quite willing to take the fight. The terms were negotiated and the idea that he wanted to and is able to fight Tyson Fury. This was never in doubt,” he concluded.
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