Plans are looking less probable for WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and WBA, IBF, WBO champion Anthony Joshua to go straight into a two-fight series against each other if each wins their upcoming title defenses.
The WBC has confirmed this week that if WBC interim world champion Dillian Whyte is triumphant against Alexander Povetkin on August 22, the winner of the upcoming Fury-Wilder III bout, which is scheduled for December 19, must face Whyte in the mandatory defense of the WBC title early next year.
The WBO is already on record saying the Joshua-Pulev winner must next fight mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk.
This whole thing is kind of annoying. Boxing is in desperate need of good fights, and after dominating Wilder, there really is no need for a 3rd match. Now he has to fight Whyte and Joshua has to fight Pulev and Usyk at least. Who knows what other sanctioning body will stand up and demand another mandatory? And who knows how many of these fights could be delayed by Covid? So many have been delayed already.
Not sure I agree with you. You say boxing needs good fights but aren’t Fury-Wilder 3, Joshua-Usyk and Wilder/Fury-Whyte good fights?
Are they better than Joshua vs Fury? Dumbass?
Dumbass! Can’t make your point without adding an insult? Shame. The original comment mentioned ‘good fights’ and I was responding specifically to that reference. Which of the fights I mentioned is ‘not a good fight’ in addition to Joshua-Fury?
I think Jay summed it up. You were basically inferring these other fights were justified.
Not the point. The point is are they good fights or not. How can a good fight not be justified? Look Joshua-Fury will be a massive fight but who knows exactly when it will occur? As a boxing fan, a series of good matchups between top-quality opponents keeps the sport ticking over. Just voiced a different opinion, no need for Jay to get uptight about it.
Too right Whyte has had the piss taken way too long.
No surprise here. I said from the get-go, their smack talk fighting each other is simply foreplay to get us excited over nothing. Many things need to fall into place first before this fight can move forward. Actually, the longer it takes, I feel this does not help Fury since he has had implosion issues with mental depression and he often loses his focus due to personal distractions. In addition, Fury has touted a while back he wants to fight till he is 40 years of age. I like the idea, but I doubt he will do it since he deals with continual personal issues with mental health.
The COVID-19 dilemma really puts a damper on things as well since that could hinder higher revenue to be maximized. Like I say, I will believe this fight will truly happen when I hear the opening bell ring. If either fighter has injuries, defeats in their tune-ups/mandatory, or even contractual/financial issues over the fight, it simply keeps getting delayed.
The way I see it is that surely the fight will generate more money down the line due to the Covid situation. So for me it makes sense to get the Ms out of the way now. It will likely be a 2 fight deal and it would be unfair to have Whyte (who has already waited too long for his shot) and Usyk have to wait another year.
Of course they would each have 2 potential banana skins but fulfilling their obligations would make a 2 fight deal next year less problematic
John, you are right. The other variable to consider is the upset of the apple cart. Let’s suppose Usyk or Whyte beats one of these guys! Possible? Sure, this is boxing. One punch can change the whole thing! Fury and Joshua both have demonstrated they are vulnerable against certain opponents regardless of what their records indicate.
I still think to this day a younger Wladimir Klitschko would have beaten Joshua and Fury to this day. Would have loved to seen a Klitschko at age 30 fight both of these guys today. Both men beat Klitschko, but Wlad was older and past his prime. However, Klitschko had excellent discipline in the game and was serious at his work. Think about this….. Klitschko was the longest reigning HW champ of all time; 12 years if my memory serves me right.
You probably the only person who would love to see Wladimir Klitschko fight anybody!
Klitschko’s style was boring at times, but make no mistake, he gave a lot of fighters trouble with his size, reach, and heavy hands. As I reflect back on Wlad’s career, I must say, he was not perfect, but I give him respect in which he took his job of boxing serious and was always in-shape ready to fight. On a side note, Wlad’s accolades in life were exceptional as an athlete, educator, supporter of boxing, and military officer. In summary, yes, I respected his boxing game and props to him for making it a 12 year reign. Have a wonderful weekend.
Love Wlad man, Dr Steelhammer knocking guys out cold. Never subscribed to this BS that Wlad was boring.
But what about Fres Oquendo and Manuel Charr? They should fight for the intermediate silver intercontinental belt.
Don’t forget…Maybe the copper, pewter, stainless steel, tungsten, and lead belts should be made so we can have even more goofy title fights!!!!! LOL
It’s a shame that all of a sudden there’s all these mandatory fights popping up and preventing Fury-Joshua from happening. I feel like it’d be a lot more meaningful having these fights after there’s a unified and lineal world heavyweight champ.
Not saying that these fighters don’t deserve a shot at whichever belt they fight for but if you gave me a choice between fighting now for a WBO/WBC belt or having a shot at being the Big Boss, it’s a no brainer for me to wait.
Belts don’t mean anything anymore anyways. Just vacate them and fight each other and make a gazillion dollars. It’s not like no one knows who either of these guys are . Fury is going to school Joshua both times anyways then should retire.
Well said! Great statement!
They should do this and, without sanctioning fees, put these organizations out of business. If the sport is ever going to have any credibility again it needs one honest governing body with one champion in each weight class. Not having sixteen weight classes might also help.
You should be making a killing as a professional gambler. Giving you know exactly how the fights will play out. 🙂
Furu is the most operated fighter that only has size and being a white heavyweight going for him. He was knocked silly by Steve USS Cunningham but all that illegal holding pushing and leaning he gets away with.plus if Jack Reese didn’t give him a 15 second count we are talking about Wilder Joshus and Fury would be out of the picture as he should be.
Hahah 15 second count?!? People are still going on about that? Watch it again, there are a million videos on YouTube that show it was exactly 10 seconds, definitely not 15. Once Fury beats Bum Squad again he fade into oblivion where he belongs and be forgotten.
Including the fight against COVID-19, there are too many possibilities here. For now, I am only interested in the impactful splash of Fury vs. Wilder 3.
If Fury wins (as he should), Wilder (Roll Tide!!) is finally out the picture without anymore drama or excuses and perhaps set aside conditions (for Whyte, Usyk and Pulev) may clear a direct path to Joshua during mid-late 2021.
However, if Wilder wins (A BIG IF), there is a strong possibility of a 4th fight, and it WILL cause delays for Joshua (1st choice), Whytte (2nd choice), Usyk (3rd choice) and maybe Pulev (a distant 4th choice).
Continuing, if Wilder wins to trigger a 4th fight with Fury during mid-late 2021, then Joshua may fight Whyte (1st choice) or Usyk (a distant 2nd choice) – forget about Pulev. Joshua should defeat Whyte or Usyk to solidly position himself in demand for a fight against the winner of Fury vs. Wilder 4 (IF Wilder wins the 3rd fight).
With various possibilities present, I will first start with a very impactful splash in Fury vs. Wilder 3, and let’s see what kind of rippling effects occur after this impactful splash.
Just pitching my two cents for deeper analysis by fellow boxing fans because this is a twister, and I am getting a headache over it.
As it should. Whyte deserves his shot. Let’s not forget Joshua is coming off a boring win over a guy who destroyed him. So before we go saying he’s the best or 1B there is that to consider. If Ruiz grabs a strap in his next bout I think Joshua needs to answer the question of can he beat an in shape Ruiz in a rubber match. Usyk is a big name as well and being undisputed at cruiser makes him deserving as well. If they both get through their mandatories let’s see this fight in Nov-Jan 2021-2022. There are a lot of good fights here. I think Whyte could be big problems for Fury based on his style.
Let me ask you something,why do you discredit AJ for beating Andy Ruiz? You act as though Ruiz didn’t know they had a fight coming up. Look dude,AJ was in shape for the fight,period,Ruiz wasn’t. If that AJ’s fault that he was in great shape and boxed the shit out of Ruiz? No,it isn’t. AJ handlied it the way he was supposed to do. He lost….he reset and came back and won the fight,period. Give the man credit,he won the fight. And while he fought timid to me,he still employed the style they felt was best to stay awy from Ruiz’s quick hands. That give anyone issues,fat boy or not. Ruiz can boogie,so he out boxed him,don’t blame or discredit AJ for doing what they all train to do,that’s take it serious and come out the winner by any means.
You can discredit it because he got knocked out in the first one. Heavyweight division is about excitement. Joshua is not. He got destroyed and won a boring decision. I’m not going to over credit him for that victory. Do you? Let’s see part 3. He trained harder than Ruiz, big deal. After getting destroyed than winning a boring decision he doesn’t get extra credit in my book for an all out stay away approach. There needs to be a 3rd match to settle it. Although most Joshua fans would be scared if that.
Joshua knew he was beating Ruiz the entire fight. Ruiz came in way out of shape and unprepared for the fight. Is that AJ’s fault? No. However, not ONCE did he try to get Ruiz out of there despite dominating the entire fight. Ruiz was slow and out of shape and basically a sitting duck. Joshua should have laid it on him and got him out of there. I think AJ was still doubting his own conditioning and chin.
Fury should just dump the wbc title. Everyone already knows he is the champ. Just like Barerra did years back.
Boxing as a sport needs to coordinate big fights, from different weight divisions, big names with good opponents in order satisfy boxing fans. I’m tired of fight talk and postponements, I do have a life apart from boxing.
I think Povetkin will beat Whyte. I’m far from dismissing Wilder in the 3rd fight. Usyk in the mix is awesome. And A ton of other fighters are lining up. The thing that is total bullshit here is having the two best heavyweights holding the division hostage with a 2 fight deal before they even win their next fight. Nobody should be guaranteed a rematch. You have to earn that fight in the ring. Dumb deals like this is how you end up with horrible rematches like Holyfield Tyson 2 where Tyson knew he had zero chance of winning and just decided to get out of the fight
Is that what happened in the Holyfield-Tyson rematch?? I’m pretty sure Tyson was fed up with Holyfield’s dirty tactics of head butting and elbowing and said enough is enough.