Fury wants Deontay Wilder to face Anthony Joshua next

By Tim Royner

Boxingnews24.com

Tyson Fury wants IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) to step up for the first time in his six-year pro career by facing WBC champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) for the undisputed championship next so that there can be just one champion in the division.

Fury (27-0-1, 18 KOs) feels that it’s high time that the 29-year-old Joshua fight his first elite level fighter that is in the prime of his career, and not an old, injured guy, coming off a long period of inactivity. Joshua is fighting fringe contender Andy Ruiz Jr. (32-1, 21 KOs) next month on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York, but Fury doesn’t see the Mexican American Ruiz Jr. as having the needed talent to unseat Joshua.

“As a fight fan, I wish they’d fight each other… I feel it’s Team AJ that don’t want the fight, not Team Wilder… It doesn’t matter who wins anyway, they both can’t beat me together on the same night,” Fury said to Behind The Gloves. “I wish Deontay Wilder and Joshua fought. Deontay Wilder is the man that is willing to fight. I’m British and I’ll admit it. I don’t think Joshua’s team wants the fight, because if they did, they’d make the fight, and have an undisputed champion. Wilder wants to. He’s fought the best in the division. He’s fought the avoided Luis Ortiz. He’s fought the elusive, avoided ‘King of Sting,’ the dancing destroyer [Fury]…Joshua hasn’t. Facts are facts. Until they fight, I think it’s Team Joshua that doesn’t want the fight, not Team Wilder, because Wilder has proven to me that he’s a fighting man. I haven’t seen that from Joshua. I want the two of them to fight each other. I want him [Joshua] to step up to the plate to prove he’s worthy of being a world champion,”Fury said.

The essential problem that is stopping the Joshua vs. Wilder fight from happening is AJ and his promoter Eddie Hearn’s insistence on being the A-side in the negotiations, and getting the bigger cut of the pie when it comes to the revenue. Joshua is pretty stubborn about this, and he’s not been willing to give Wilder the 50-50 deal that he wants. Wilder gave Fury a 50-50 deal despite the fact that he’d been out of boxing for close to three years, and beaten only two mediocre fighters going into their bout last December. Wilder was still willing to give Fury 50% of the money. Joshua hasn’t agreed to the same deal for a fight against Wilder. As such, the two of them haven’t been able to agree to a deal, and likely will continue not to agree into the far and distant future until one or both lose to somebody else.

“I’ve stepped up to the plate. I’ve been to Germany and dethroned [Wladimir] Klitschko,” Fury said. “I’ve been to America and beaten Deontay Wilder. When he [Joshua] stepped up, he fought an old [and inactive] Klitschko and [an injured] Dillian Whyte. Fight someone that can fight back. Fight Wilder or Whyte now. You’re a fighting man. You’re a world champion. Fight men who are dangerous. No disrepect to Andy Ruiz Jr., I don’t think he’s the man to beat Joshua,” Fury said.

Fury didn’t beat Wilder, although he likes to say that he did. Fury’s fight with Wilder ended in a 12 round draw last December. Fury says he won 10 of the 12 rounds. The way that judges score fights in the U.S, which you can argue is different in how they score them elsewhere, the rounds are given to the fighter that lands the harder, cleaner shots. Since Wilder landed the much harder and cleaner shots in all 12 rounds in addition to the two knockdowns he scored in the championship rounds, you can argue that Wilder should have been given the win. Fury’s pitty-pat punches weren’t powerful enough for him to get the victory .

“Now that Dominic Breazeale has been taken care of, I assume they’re [World Boxing Council] going to make the winner of the [Dillian] Whyte vs. [Oscar] Rivas mandatory for Wilder,” Fury said in speculating who Wilder be fighting next. Good luck with that. To be honest, if Dillian Whyte keeps going on about being mandatory for Wilder, he’ll suffer the same fate as Dominic Breazeale. Deontay Wilder isn’t afraid of Dillian Whyte or Anthony Joshua. That’s Christmas come early for Deontay Wilder. Joshua battered Breazeale for eight rounds, and he fell over from exhaustion. Deontay Wilder knocked him out with one punch basically, So, the fans are starting to realize that there’s only one man that can take this division over and that’s me,” Fury said.

If the WBC wants to greatly limit Wilder’s choices for his next fight, then they’ll order the winner of the July 20th fight between Dillian Whyte and Oscar Rivas to be his new mandatory challenger, and insist that he take that fight next. It wouldn’t be a big deal for Wilder, because he doesn’t have great options for his next fight. His co-manager Shelly Finkel mentioned 40-year-old former world title challenger Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz as a potential option for Wilder’s next fight. Ortiz is the only guy that is being seriously talked about for Wilder’s next fight. That would be a re-tread fight, since Wilder already knocked Ortiz out in the 10th round last year in March. There would be some boxing fans that would want to see Wilder and Ortiz fight again, but many of them won’t be interested in seeing the rematch. It’s too soon, and Ortiz hasn’t fought anyone good since his loss to Wilder. Ortiz’s three fights since his loss last year to Deontay have come against Christian Hammer, Razvan Cojanu and Travis Kauffman.

“Look at the decision I got with Deontay Wilder. I won by a landslide and got a draw,” Fury said in complaining about not having won his fight with Wilder last December in the U.S. “It’s not easy to beat people who are stars on the networks…Deontay Wilder is the second baddest man on the planet behind me self. He’ll beat any other heavyweight in the world barring me. I proved that. I proved that after three years out of the ring, abusing drugs and alcohol on a daily basis. I fought Deontay Wilder and beat him, and got a draw. I’m the only guy that would beat Deontay Wilder in the world, and nobody else is capable, because he’s too powerful. He’s too elusive. With those punches he’s got, he’s like lightning. For someone walking forward with their hands in front of their face, looking to land the one-two, it’s curtains. I thought he was a nice guy, but Deontay Wilder is a bad man, and bad men do naughty things. I know Deontay Wilder, and he’s not a killer. I’ve looked into killer’s eyes before, and Deontay Wilder is NOT a killer. I told him that,”Fury said.

Fury is making a career out of having survived 12 rounds against Wilder, and beaten a shot 40-yer-old Wladimir Klitschko. It’s too bad Fury can’t admit that he didn’t do enough to beat Wilder, and his win over Wladimir came against a fighter that appeared to be fighting at only 25% capacity compared to the fighter he was earlier in his career when he was younger, and still had legendary trainer Emanuel Steward in his corner guiding him.