WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury isn’t going to pay Deontay Wilder to step aside for him to take on IBF/WBA/WBO champion Anthony Joshua in what could be the biggest heavyweight match in the history of the sport.
Fury would rather gamble and take his chances that he can beat Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) in 2020 a second time and then advance to the unification with Joshua in early 2021.
If Fury’s decision not to pay Wilder a step aside backfires on him, then he’s going to have pie in his face. However, the Joshua-Fury fight can still happen at some point, even if Fury loses to Wilder in their trilogy match this year.
It just won’t make as much money if Fury is knocked out by Wilder, and he comes into the Joshua fight off the back of a loss instead of a win.
Fury won’t pay Wilder to step aside
“I wouldn’t pay [Wilder] to step aside, I’d rather give him another battering,” said Fury to Mark Wright on his Instagram. “He’s got a rematch clause. Some newspaper reporters said he wanted $10 million to step aside. I’m NOT paying him any money to step aside.
“I’d rather take his scalp again. I won’t pay him $2 million to step aside. I’d rather give him another battering again. I’m going to take him out a third time, hopefully at the end of the year,” said Fury.
As you can see, Fury’s feet aren’t entirely on the ground, are they? Fury’s 7th round knockout win over Wilder last February has gone to his head, making him believe that it’s easy to beat him now. This could prove to be a significant error on Fury’s part if Wilder comes into the third fight just as lethal as he was in their first match in 2018.
For the fans that don’t remember, Wilder dropped Fury twice and was arguably robbed of a knockout in the 12th.
With Fury’s popularity, he’ll be able to get a fourth fight against Wilder if he loses to him. He might have to wait, though, because Wilder will take on Joshua in a unification clash, and he’ll also need to face WBC mandatory Dillian Whyte.
Fury: I’m battling Joshua in 2021
“We’re going to go into 2021 for the biggest fight in boxing fight history between two undefeated British heavyweights [editors’ note: Joshua has one loss on his resume],” said Fury. “Then we’re going to battle for all the gold. That’s because we’re undefeated,” said Fury in forgetting that Joshua was knocked out in 2019 by Andy Ruiz Jr.
