Bob Arums Believes Wilder v Fury Happens in November/December
There are a number of significant figures in the boxing industry who are holding out hope that fights will resume sometime in the summer. If that proves to be true, then the number one question will be “what fights will we see first?” Well one bout that veteran fight hustler Bob Arum of Top Rank promotions doesn’t think will happen as planned is Wilder v Fury 3.
Following their fairly evenly-matched first encounter, which ended in a controversial draw, the two big men ran it back this past February 22. Once matched up again however, Fury shocked the world by bringing the action to the notoriously hard hitting Wilder. Before the conclusion of seven full rounds, the Gypsy King roughed up, bloodied, dropped and ultimately stopped the Bronze Bomber.
DELAYED MEGA-FIGHT
In rather swift fashion, Wilder formally enacted his option for an immediate rematch. Once done with the needed negotiations, it was determined that they would trade leather for a third time in July. Well, that was all before COVID-19 swept into town and flipped the whole world on its ear. Yet, let Arum tell it, even if given the green light by the requisite government authorities, without an audience, mega-bouts such as Wilder v Fury are unlikely to happen. Arum said the following on the Boxing with Chris Mannix podcast.
“Take a Fury/Wilder, there is a contract for a third fight. In the second fight the gate accounted for almost 17 million dollars of the revenue. Now if you do a fight without spectators, how do you account for the 17 million? Obviously you can’t, it’s not magic.
So I talked to Tyson yesterday and he is a very, very smart guy who is aware of the situation. And I said, ‘Tyson the soonest that we can do anything with you and Wilder is November/December,’ you know to get spectators and so forth. And he says that’s fine. Smart guys, and a lot of fighters are smart guys, realize if they have to wait a month or so it’s not the end of the world.”
With fights like Fury v Wilder 3 being rescheduled to deal with the repercussions of coronavirus protocols, then one can only imagine what big fights, if any, we’re likely to the see in the near future.
By: Bakari Simpson
