Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury Rematch in 2020?
Wilder vs Fury 2? Not this year. When speaking with industry sources this week Arum stated that he would like for the fight to take place in February 2020.
The two undefeated heavyweights met in December 2018 and gave us a classic. On one hand, Fury gave a brilliant display of boxing and bravado. On the other hand, Wilder showcased that nuclear right hand, putting Fury on the canvas twice. The fight ended in a draw but fans wanted more; and Wilder and Fury seemed intent on giving it to them.
The two were deep into negotiations for a rematch when news broke of Fury’s landmark deal with Top Rank/ESPN. Bringing another network and promotion into the fold all but killed the immediate rematch and negotiations fell apart. Wilder moved on to his mandatory Dominic Brezeale. Meanwhile, Fury will make his return against Tom Schwarz June 15th in Vegas.
It’s becoming more evident that Team Fury believes they got away with jumping into the Wilder fight too early. This explains why they’re opting for a fight against an unproven prospect instead of matching up with a champion. Selling Fury vs Schwarz as a competitive fight is a tough task. For this reason, when speaking with media, Arum chose to focus on the German youngster’s size and willingness to fight Tyson as opposed to the clear gap in skill and experience.
Arum went on to say that if Fury gets past Schwarz in June, he will have another fight here in the states later in the year before looking at the Wilder rematch in February of the following year.
If you can read between the lines, you can see that the goal of Top Rank and Team Fury is to put as much distance as possible between Fury and his three year hiatus from the sport before he’s back in with one of the champions. What’s troubling though is that while Bob Arum is one of boxing’s best promoters and has played a key role in some of boxing’s biggest fights, he can sometimes “over marinate” a fight.
Case in point, when fans clamored for bouts between Top Rank stable mates Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gambo. As a more recently example, Terrence Crawford against Manny Pacquiao. They were assured that the fights would happen, they just needed to build or “marinate”. Years later, after the fights didn’t happen and had lost their luster fans, find out from Arum himself they were never seriously being considered.
I don’t believe that is the case here; there is too much money on the table in a Fury/Wilder rematch. The original fight was a success both financially and commercially, and fans want to see the rematch. Does pushing it off until February 2020 make it lose some of its appeal? Only time will tell.
By: Tanner Gill
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