Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder III is back on for the new rescheduled date of October 9th, and the entire-three fight undercard will be moved with them at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The tickets purchased for the previous July 24th date are good for the new October 9th date. CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS
The undercard for Fury vs. Wilder 3:
- Efe Ajaba vs. Frank Sanchez
- Robert Helenius – Adam Kownacki 2
- Jared Anderson – Vladimir Tereshkin
Those are some good fights, but it would be nice to move them around. Instead of Frank Sanchez fighting the flawed heavyweight Ajagba, he should fight Jared Anderson. Sanchez vs. Anderson would be an excellent fight.
Ajagba vs. Tereskin makes sense as well because both guys have defensive lapses and are both beatable.
Fans doubt Fury’s COVID-19 excuse
There are still many skeptical boxing fans who believe that the true reason for the postponement was poor ticket sales, not Fury’s COVID-19. They think it’s a promotion that was sinking badly, so the promoters got desperate and postponed the Fury vs. Wilder III fight until October 9th.
Assuming that the trilogy match isn’t big enough to interest boxing fans in the huge numbers as the first two fights between the two giant heavyweights, the promoters will have to come up with something to get people excited bout the fight.
For starters, Wilder needs to help with the promotion by not wearing headphones during the press conferences. More interviews and face-to-face meetings between Fury and Wilder would also be a good idea.
Nothing has changed as far as pay-per-view. The card is still being sold on ESPN PPV and FOX Sports PPV.
WBC heavyweight champion Fury tested negative for COVID-19 last Tuesday after coming up positive on July 5th. Having been cleared by the doctor on Tuesday, Fury is returning home to the UK before coming back to the U.S to begin training in Las Vegas for the third fight with Deontay.
“I wanted nothing more than to smash the ‘Big Dosser’ on July 24, but I guess the beating will have to wait,” Fury said. “Make no mistake; I will be back and better than ever. We will fight Oct. 9, and I will knock him spark out!”
Fury needs to put on some weight to get back up to the 270s because he looks like he’s been on a weight loss program. He’s too thin. Whatever Fury did to bulk up to 273 lbs from 256 for his last fight, he needs to start now.
Fury might not be able to beat Wilder if he’s weighing in the 250s because he couldn’t do it in their first fight in 2018.
When Fury tried to walk Wilder down in that fight, he was getting nailed by straight rights. Fury looked like a completely different fighter in the rematch, having bulked up to 273 lbs, and he used that size to dominate.
If Fury doesn’t have enough time to put the weight back on, he’s going to have to hope that Wilder gasses out from throwing right hands because it could end badly for him.
PPV attrition could hurt Fury vs. Wilder buys
The PPV events taking place in August and September could take a big bite out of the pay-per-view sales for the Fury vs. Wilder 3 fight.
On August 21, Manny Pacquiao will be fighting Errol Spence Jr on FOX Sports PPV. Then on September 18th, Canelo Alvarez is expected to face Caleb Plant on FOX Sports PPV.
Boxing fans being asked to purchase expensive PPV cards for three consecutive months may not have the money left to purchase Fury-Wilder in October. Fury’s illness may actually hurt PPV sales.
Eddie Hearn said that the ticket sales were terrible for the Fury vs. Wilder 3 card on July 24th, so it’s likely to be worse for October 9th. That’s why Hearn didn’t understand the logic behind rescheduling the fight for October.