Tyson Fury to fight in September in U.S in New York says Arum

By Jeff Aranow

Boxingnews24.com

Tyson Fury will be back inside the ring in September of this year in a fight in Boston or New York if he’s successful in his defense of his lineal heavyweight title on June 15 against Tom Schwarz, according to his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank.

Arum wants to get one more fight under Fury’s belt in September against a still to be determined opponent before looking to match him against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in a rematch in the first three months of 2020.

“George Foreman was not Ali. Ali was Ali. Foreman had his own style, and his own persona, which caught on with the people,” Bob Arum said to Boxing Social. “Tyson Fury has a larger than life persona, but it’s different than Ali’s. He’ll develop his own personality, and that will sell to the American people. Our plans are to do another fight with Tyson in September, probably at Madison Square Garden or possibly at the Boston Gardens, but back East. If all things are in order, then do a heavyweight championship fight between Tyson and Wilder sometime in the first few months of next year. That’s the plan. I think Wilder has agreed to the plan. That’s what we’re all looking for. Hopefully that fight can happen, and then we’ll take care of Mr. Joshua,” Arum said.

Fury has the potential of making it big in the U.s due to the combination of his personality and boxing talent, according to Arum. The Top Rank boss is convinced that Fury (27-0-1, 19 KOs) can be another George Foreman in winning over the American fans with his jolly personality. Foreman had two separate eras in his career. The first half of Foreman’s career, he was seen by some as an intimidating force that looked menacing. During this part of his career, Foreman’s physique was lean and muscular. When Foreman came back after 10 years out of the ring, he was nearing 40, flabby, still powerful, but more outgoing and smiling. It was a different Foreman that the U.S fans saw from the one that existed previously. If Fury can win over the U.S fans the way Foreman did, it’s possible that he could become a star in the U.S. What Arum leaves out is the way that Foreman would entertain inside the ring with his knockouts. American boxing fans like to see knockouts. Fury might not be able to match Foreman with his power.

“There won’t be a problem between ESPN, Fox and Showtime,” Arum said about putting together a rematch between Wilder and Fury for early 2020. It’ll be a joint distribution. We’ve done it before, like Mayweather-Pacquiao. That’s not a problem.”

It’s good news that Arum is optimistic that the networks won’t get in the way of the rematch between Wilder and Fury. That’s been one of the major worries that boxing fans have about the Wilder-Fury 2 fight. They think that with Fury now signed with Top Rank and fighting on ESPN, it could keep the rematch with Wilder from happening. If that turns out to be correct, Fury would be stuck fighting other guys. He would still wind up facing Anthony Joshua and many of the Matchroom Sport heavyweights, but he wouldn’t fight Wilder a second time, and that ould be a huge disappointment for fans that want to see the two mix it up again. Wilder and Fury fought to a 12 round draw last December in Los Angeles, California. The fight was close enough for their to be a rematch. Top Rank wants to wait a while before they put Fury back in with Wilder

“We’ll look around to see who the best fighter is to put in with Tyson Fury, who will make the most noise, who will be the best fight,” Arum said about Fury’s fight in September. “Maybe it’ll be Dillian Whyte. Maybe it won’t be Dillian Whyte. Right now, we’re looking at the Schwarz fight. Schwarz is a lot more difficult opponent than people are giving him credit for, because he’s a big, strong guy. He matches Tyson in size,”Arum said about Schwarz.

The World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman wants to see Fury andd #1 WBC Dillian Whyte face each other in a WBC heavyweight title eliminator with the winner of the fight being made to the mandatory for Wilder. Fury, 30, has already dismissed the idea of fighting Whyte to earn the rematch with Wilder. Fury thinks the idea is silly. He turned down a recent rematch with Wilder for May 18th, so why would he agree to fight Whyte with a purse of 50-50 when he could get an even split for a bigger payday against Wilder. As far as Fury’s September opponent goes, it’s likely going to be another beatable contender.

Arum and Top Rank won’t match Fury against a risky opponent like Whyte, because there’s too much money on the line that he would be missing out on if he were t lose the fight. Arum is doing a great job of talking up Schwarz’s chances of pulling off an upset of Fury, but that’s him being a promoter. Arum can’t tell the boxing public that Schwarz has no chance of beating Fury on June 15th, because then the fans wouldn’t want to bother watching the contest. Arum has to make fans believe the Fury vs. Schwarz is going to be competitive, so they’ll want to watch it on BT Sport Box office pay-per-view and ESPN+.

“If Schwarz was matched against Ruiz, Schwarz would be a three to four to one favorite in the fight, and most people would bet Schwarz over Andy Ruiz,” Arum said. “So, Eddie Hearn is no one to say that he doesn’t like the fight between Fury and Schwarz. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. I think Fury and Schwarz is a good, competitive fight. I just hope Tyson is successful,” Arum said.

Ruiz Jr. looks a much better fighter than Schwarz. Ruiz Jr. has faster hand speed, better power, and has faced better opposition. Ruiz Jr. arguably beat Joseph Parker in their fight in 2016 in New Zealand, but ended up getting the short end of the stick in a fight that many boxing fans felt was a hometown decision. Schwarz has been fighting obscure opposition, and not looking good in winning his fights. In Schwarz’s recent fight against Senad Gashi, it looked like he flopped in order to win the fight by a disqualification after being head-butted by him. Gashi was disqualified for the head-butt. Schwarz fell down on the canvas after being head-butted in the sixth round. Perhaps Schwarz was really hurt, but it looked to some like he was faking in order to win the fight by a disqualification, which is what happened. Gashi is the only notable opponent on Schwarz’s resume as a pro.