Hall of Fame promoters Frank Warren and Bob Arum addressed the media at lunch in London yesterday to launch the UK activity ahead of the world heavyweight title showdown between WBC champion Deontay Wilder and former champion Tyson Fury and, now officially confirmed to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on February 22.
“This is a massive fight,” stated Warren, who brought Fury back into the world heavyweight fold in 2018 and into his original collision with Wilder. “This one is between two undefeated fighters, the No.1 and No.2 in the world. These are the two best heavyweights in the world who had a fantastic fight first time around and, for the fans, it doesn’t get any better.
“It was a very exciting spectacle just over a year ago, with the most dramatic last round of any fight in recent years. It is the consummate boxer against a guy who is the most dangerous puncher in the last 30 years. At any stage, any second of the fight, Wilder can pull a big punch out.
“But, in the first fight, Tyson came into it having dropped 11 stone over a six-month period. Going into this fight he is absolutely spot-on with his weight and is just training for the fight, rather than training to lose weight.
“This fight was made for last year before Tyson’s deal with ESPN came along and, while it might have been a frustrating wait for the fans, the upside is that it is a much bigger fight now due to Tyson’s ever-increasing profile in the USA,” added Warren, who attempted to place the forthcoming sequel amongst the multitude of major events he has staged over his 40 years in the business.
“It has got to be up there, hasn’t it? It is the biggest heavyweight fight, in my estimation, since Lennox Lewis fought Evander Holyfield.
There has been suggestions that Tyson will be preparing to go for an early finish and therefore leaving the ringside officials with no decision to make.
Warren believes his man will deliver a show-stopping finish, but doesn’t believe such an exit strategy is essential.
“No I don’t. I actually do think Tyson will stop him but, having said that, I don’t see Wilder doing anything differently than he did in the first fight, albeit he is a dangerous sod. I see Tyson comprehensively out-boxing him this time around before either stopping him or winning on points by a wide margin.
“There has been a lot made of the situation regarding the officials and we will deal with that. As things stand though, I think more people in the States know Tyson than know Wilder so it will be like he is the home fighter.
“The Brits will be there in thousands as well to get behind their man and they will take over Las Vegas.”
For his part, Arum says he is looking forward to another working collaboration with his UK counterpart Warren, with the pair having jointly staged a number of shows across their lengthy stints in the sport.
“It is fun and we work very, very well together,” said the Top Rank President. “This is an event that has a lot of interest both sides of the pond, so that is good and what I like.
“This fight has taken on a life of its own and will be the biggest boxing event in years. Particularly because it has the two biggest sports networks in the US behind it in ESPN and Fox.
“They do all the major sporting events and will be plugging this fight from now until February 22. Tyson Fury was not known in the United States and he took everybody by surprise when he fought Wilder.
“Now, thanks to ESPN, he’s been built up to be a huge personality in the sport. Wilder has been doing a lot of campaigning too and I think this is going to an event that will go into well over two million homes on pay-per-view.
“It was certainly well worth the time spent in building him up in the US. I cannot believe that Fury would have the popularity and notoriety that he now has without the build-up on ESPN and what he did with the WWE wrestling definitely helped!
“There will now be continuous promotion of Fury-Wilder across the networks and that is something we have never had before. The public over there has a very short attention span so you’ve got to go back to the well each time and hit them with it time and time again to refresh their minds.”
Veterans of staging fights that capture the imagination of the wider population outside of the boxing fraternity, Arum believes himself and Frank Warren are onto another winner that will have the world tuning in.
“It is so hard to say where this fight sits amongst ones we’ve done before because events were so different before. I did most of those great fights with Hagler and Hearns, Leonard and Duran – and those were huge, huge events.
“Later with Mayweather and Pacquiao, Oscar de la Hoya… I have done so many big events and it is very hard to categorize this. It will be a huge event. Will it be as big as Ali-Frazier if that took place now? Probably not, but only because Ali-Frazier had political issues, which this fight doesn’t.
“We’ll sell it out completely,” added Arum, who then responded to the question of if he has come across a character like the Gypsy King before.
“Well, a little bit of Ali, a little bit of George Foreman – he blends a lot of the strengths of those guys together, with a little bit of Roberto Duran.
“He is a promoter’s dream and it reminds me of when I promoted Ali. Ali was such a brilliant self-promoter, but a lot of people would then give me credit for having him say this or that. Of course, I had nothing to do with it.
“It is the same with Tyson Fury. The only input I have is to have my staff tell him where he has to be at a certain time. You don’t tell Tyson Fury what to say.”
Arum concluded by concurring with his co-promoter in that they firmly believe they have not witnessed a bigger puncher at work than Wilder.
“I haven’t seen a guy with that one-punch power; I’ve never seen anything like it. It is actually accentuated by the fact he doesn’t know how to box. He is a horrible boxer. He puts on a clinic of how not to box, but he has that right hand and it is like a laser that will find the most vulnerable part of his opponent’s anatomy.”
Arum and Warren need to take a back seat and dry up. Let the fighters themselves promote the fight like they always have with their cheesy repetitive trash talk and antics. Arum can say Wilder does not know how to box, but last I checked, crazy one-punch power shots are a tactic in boxing. Crazy one-punch power shots must work for Wilder as it has carried him this far in the sport. Maybe I can bring to light that Fury and Wilder both have flaws as fighters and both are NOT the total package. Like I say, the politician promotors Arum and Warren need to take a pipe down.
They say he doesnt know how to box yet he was an Olympian Medal Winner. Yiu dont go to the Olympics not knowing how to box. Id rather they just state the obvious, Tyson Fury hits like a biatch.
It’s funny how Arum and Warren will say anything to make it seem like Wilder and Fury are the 2 best heavyweights on the planet. But neither of them can sell out an arena, blow up a PPV or capture the interest of the public. And they are fighting for one belt. Meanwhile, AJ is filling soccer stadiums, fighting top 10 guys and has 4 belts hahaha. All they are talking about here is promotion. But when AJ fights, the fights sell out within an hour and there are 70k fans in the stands…without much promoting at all. The proof is in the pudding. if Wilder or Fury had been fighting at the level of competition that AJ has for the last couple of years, then they would be reaping the rewards like AJ is now. Instead they fought the Arreola’s, the Wallin’s, the Breazeale’s and the old man Ortiz. these fight don’t excite the general public and people don’t come to the fights or buy the PPV because of it. this fight will be similar to the first one. About 10k fans in the stands including the ones who are there because they got a free ticket. The PPV numbers will be “leaked” but not confirmed and they will be inflated to make it seem like the event was a success. The outcome may be rigged again since they are already talking about a trilogy so I wouldn’t doubt if there is another controversial draw again. And if there is a winner, he will refuse to fight AJ for unification. The whole thing is a set-up
Don’t get too carried away. You are absolutely correct about him drawing large crowds in the UK. Otherwise I take exception to your post. AJ’s resume isn’t that great either. Wlad was 40+ yo and had been easily beaten by Fury in his previous fight. Povetkin is also well past his best. Besides those two, the rest of his opponents are not exactly frightening. Besides being able to punch, Whyte is pretty limited, and I see that Breazeale and Molina, two Wilder victims, are on his resume. And of course AJ was flattened by an obese cab driver.
The HW division is pretty weak now, but it might look a lot better if AJ had fought Wilder, Fury or Ortiz, who are clearly at the top of the division along with AJ. Notice I’ve included AJ despite the embarrassing loss to Ruiz.
That lost doesn’t matter at this point does it? He(Andy) got lucky and won. What happened in the rematch? AJ took that “fat,never should have won the first time” Taco and schooled the shit out of him. So let’s not mention what Andy did to AJ without talking about or mention the classroom of the sweet science that AJ took Mr Taco to.
You are on crack. Ortiz would annihilate weak ass AJ! You call fat dillian, a scared super defensive parker, and a old burnt out wlad that didnt even throw right hands at all anymore REAL OPPONENTS? Iol. AJ got humiliated by el tubbo, and woulda got koed again if fatty had actually trained. He won his belt from martin for gods sake! AJ is pettrified of wilder, fury and ortiz. And you cant see that you too are BLIND….at least wilder and ortiz fights are entertaining!! AJ was only entertaining when getting knocked around the ring by el tubbo. And the wlad fight. SMH
Filling more tickets then Wilder and Tyson does not mean your the best heavyweight. Your logic is so off it doesn’t warrant a real response. You are certainly delusional or the secret butt buddy for AJ.
Bob Arum,
Stop talking out of your ass. I love you, but at times, you sound more ignorant than Jerry Nadler & Adam Schiff.
and Pelosi
Nancy The Nervous Drunk. She needs a cigarette.
First fight was all Tyson Fury, even with the knockdowns Fury won the fight. Wilder is the hardest and most dangerous puncher in decades for sure so he’s always in it. However if TF is focused, he takes this fight easily.
No way you could know Boxing and Math and still figure Tyson won the fight. If anything TF was knocked tf out.
Sell, sell , sell …
Fury in 2!
He has no real power
One Boxer is an Olympic champion, Has faced several top boxers who others said he couldn’t beat, has dropped everybody hes been in the ring with and the other is Fury. We cant debate that Wilder is lacking the top level boxing skills, but not one person hes faced has made it 12 rounds without making a mistake. Personally I dont enjoy Furys matches. Hes a clown and feels that screwing around in a round makes him the winner. Hes tall and moves his head and is generally out of reach, unless you go to the body. With the exception of the Klitschko fight hes been a goof and doesnt take boxing seriously. His claim to fame is that one single win that would have seen him stripped of the titles for a failed drug test, but he “retired” first.
Spot on
Wilder was an Olympic bronze medalist, not champion.
So who are these top boxers who others said he couldn’t beat? Wilder has been the betting favourite in every single pro fight he’s ever had as far as I’m aware. So has AJ. Fury is the only one of the three who has boxed an opponent favoured to beat him (both Klitschko and Wilder were odds on with the bookies). Not that bookies odds mean much really – that’s why they fight the fights!
This fight will sell itself. The thing that Fury fans over look is Fury put the rematch off. In that time hes fought nobody and looked like crap doing so. Wilder on the other hand found top ten rated fighters. While you can Say Dom is shit its just because Wilder destroyed him and nobody was saying that before the fight. You can say Ortiz is old, but hes a great boxer, solid chin and a good punch. It was a risky fight, but Wilder took it and was outboxed like the first meeting, but like the first time around Wilder scored a KO. I dont see AJ offering Ortiz a shot. Some people give Fury the win over wilder, but you can argue that while Fury avoided a lot he didnt throw many himself. Walking to a corner raising your hands doesnt mean you won the round. Wilder is serious in the ring and doesnt sell to the judges. Some Fury fans will claim that Fury is the lineal champion, but they skip the fact that Fury failed a post fight drug test and was going to be stripped of the titles. It didnt happen because he retired and vacated them. In the end Wilder is taking the fights we want to see and hes taking the risks. AJ raced Ruiz because he thought it would be easy. Fury faced two guys I couldnt pick out of a lineup of three guys. Wilder is not marketed very well, but hes the HW champion of boxing. AJ is the champion of show and Fury is the clown that keeps us entertained between rounds.
Re: AJ giving Ortiz a shot.
Matchroom/Eddie Hearn signed Ortiz with a view to building a fight with AJ in 2017. Ortiz laboured to a points win over Malik Scott then a win over fan favourite but British level Dave Allen (on AJ v Molina undercard). After 2 poor performances by Ortiz, couldn’t build the fight and moved on to Klitschko for another belt.
AJ faced Ruiz on 4/5 weeks notice, but as you say underestimated and thought it would be easy.
Well said Fury has no power for his size. He is boring to say the least and like you said raising your hands after each round doesn’t mean jack if you ain’t doing no damage. Take that shit back to the UK Fury it don’t fly over here in the states. You got busted up by a tomatoe can your last fight. Wilder is gonna eat you for breakfast. Your a clown and you can say what you want but you was on the canvas not even close to a finish. So how you figure an early finish this time around when you couldn’t pull the trigger the first time? You just scared to get knocked out don’t take no chances. Slap fight is more like it keep it in the UK.
A boxer reaches his highest point upon his habilities, dedication, discipline, and sometimes, a bit of good luck. Seems that Wilder has all these ingredients, albeit his critics always mention he doesn’t know how to box. What happens is that they can’t get that is the style of him, style that he is purifying, polishing in every fight, to the point that he has become a feared man and is giving him solid and spectacular wins. Fury has been criticized of boring and not exciting with his punching power, but that is the way he has founded to be entertaining and complicated, along with his well elucubrated trash talk.
Wilder has the formula to flatten Fury, but Fury has the formula to school Wilder, and that is the beauty of this fight, the intrigue who will prevail: The wisdom or the violence?
Arum is absolutely spot on. Wilder is a terrible boxer as well as a circus clown. He throws wild punches whilst missing just trying to set up his his one punch knockout which has worked against his limited opponents. Didn’t work against Fury except for the 12th round and we all know Fury got up from Wilders best punch and battered him. Fury will finish him this time, Mark my words.