Is Deontay Wilder Giving Up On The Trilogy Fight Against Tyson Fury?
For months, handlers of former WBC Heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) have been pushing for a third fight against current WBC champ Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs). Hopes of that are quickly dissolving. Now it looks like Team Wilder is starting to turn the page and entertain other options. This includes a possible fight against former IBF Heavyweight champion Charles Martin (28-2-1, 25 KOs).
According to Sports Illustrated, there are early discussions to match Wilder and Martin in the first quarter of 2021. Despite the talks of a fight against Martin, Wilder’s co-manager, Shelly Finkel, says they are still in pursuit of a fight against Fury.
This looks to be a pipedream at the moment. Fury has been adamant that he is not feeling the third fight against Wilder. Instead, the “Gypsy King” is deep in negotiations for a unification fight against IBF/WBA ‘Super’/WBO Heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs).
PICKING UP THE PIECES
Despite his appeals, time waits for no one. Wilder has not fought since getting stopped by Fury on February 22, 2020. He needs to get his career back in gear, something that Finkel even acknowledged.
“If we can’t get the Fury fight, Deontay needs to be active. If it’s the worst-case scenario, we are going to be prepared to get him back in the ring.”
Martin won the vacant IBF Heavyweight title by 3rd round TKO against Vyacheslav Glazkov on January 16, 2016. In his first defense of the title, he was KO’d by Joshua in two rounds.
In the nearly five years since, the 34-year-old from St. Louis, Missouri has fought mainly non-descript opposition. His most notable fights was a ten-round unanimous decision loss to Adam Kownacki (20-1, 15 KOs) in September of 2018 and a sixth-round stoppage win over former world title challenger Gerald Washington on the undercard of Wilder-Fury II.
Nothing has been finalized, but the writing is on the wall for Fury-Wilder III at this moment. Word of a fight against Martin clearly represents that. Stay tuned to 3KingsBoxing for further updates on this developing story.
By: Michael Wilson Jr.
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