Tyson Fury’s promoter Bob Arum is going to need to work at light speed if he wants to get Deontay Wilder to step aside in time to save his August 14th fight against Anthony Joshua.
Earlier today, the WBO set a 48-hour deadline for the WBO heavyweight champion Joshua and his management team to show that the August 14th fight with WBC champion Fury can still happen. If not, they plan on ordering Joshua to defend against his WBO mandatory Oleksandr Usyk.
Unfortunately for Joshua, his promoter Eddie Hearn, who some believe did most of the heavy lifting to get the massive $155 million Saudi site done, won’t be able to do the work for Fury’s promoters. This is his problem.
Hearn shot a cannon across the bow of Fury’s promoters this week when he gave them until the end of this week to fix the mess with Deontay Wilder. Otherwise, Joshua will be moving on to face Usyk or one of several other contenders waiting for a chance to fight him.
As we can see here, the WBO is making it official that Friday is the deadline for Joshua and Fury to prove that their August 14th fight can still happen.
Fury lost his arbitration case against Wilder earlier this week on Monday, and now he’s been ordered to face him by September 15th unless a deal can be worked out.
Wilder already made it clear on Tuesday that he has no interest in a step aside deal and that he wants Fury’s “blood” so that he can get “retribution” for his loss to him in February of 2020.
Deontay can change his mind if Fury’s team gives him a big enough step aside payment to persuade him to back away. But it’s believed that Wilder may want a huge amount of money, which Fury may find as too high for his tastes.
If the Joshua vs. Fury fight fails to happen on August 14th, it can still occur later this year in November or December, provided that they both win their interim fights.
IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Joshua (24-1, 22 KO) would seem to have the much easier task facing former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs) compared to Fury needing to take on Wilder.
Usyk hasn’t proven himself to be a big puncher since moving up to the heavyweight division, and although he’s recently packed on a lot of muscle, that’s not likely to have much of an effect on his lack of power.
Fury has to worry about Wilder because he looks very motivated and improved since their rematch last year. Wilder had an arm injury for that fight, and he was hurt early from a shot to the back of the head in the third.