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Nick Parkinson
Tyson Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren doubts the WBC world heavyweight champion will now face Deontay Wilder in his next fight.
Fury was initially expected to face Wilder in a third encounter between the pair at Allegiant Stadium, the home of the Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL, on Dec. 19.
But due to restrictions to stop the spread of coronavirus preventing a crowd, promoters and broadcasters have yet to announce plans for the trilogy fight.
Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs), 32, from Manchester, England, wants to box again this year after stopping American Wilder in seven rounds in February.
Wilder (41-1-1, 40 KOs), 34, from Alabama, who drew with Fury in December 2018 in their first fight, is contractually entitled to a rematch but Warren says if a third fight cannot be organized with Fury in December, then the Englishman will fight someone else.
“I don’t know if that fight [Fury versus Wilder] can get on this year,” Warren told BT Sport.
“Promoters on both sides, we have worked very hard to make it happen, but it’s looking like it will not happen. There’s talk about it happening next year. Tyson has been training like a lot of guys solidly since February, and he wants to fight this year.
“My concern is Tyson’s welfare and wellbeing, and delivering what he wants, so he will fight this year. Contractual commitments are what they are but contracts do not go on forever and if the fight cannot be delivered within the contractual period, Tyson will move on and maybe revisit the fight another time.
“He will be out this year because that’s what he wants.”
Warren said Fury-Wilder III will only happen if “someone comes up with a truckload of money with assurances that it’s real”.
One option for Fury would be to box an alternative opponent — and possibly without the titles on the line — at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Dec. 5, when Warren will stage a show featuring English light-heavyweight Anthony Yarde versus Lyndon Arthur.
If Fury passes on Wilder, it opens up the possibility of a world title unification fight in 2021 against English rival Anthony Joshua, the WBA-IBF-WBO world champion, who will defend his titles against Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev on Dec. 12.
Warren also said rival world junior welterweight champions Josh Taylor (WBA-IBF), of Scotland, and Jose Ramirez (WBC-WBO), of the United States, will face each other next. Ramirez’s WBO mandatory challenger Jack Catterall has agreed to wait to face the winner of Taylor-Ramirez, according to Warren.
And American Jamel Herring will defend his WBO world junior lightweight title against Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton, a former world champion at featherweight and junior featherweight, before the end of the year, according to the British promoter.