Tyson Fury WON’T fight Oscar Rivas in next match in Las Vegas

By Trevor McIntyre

Boxingnews24.com

Tyson Fury’s next fight in June in Las Vegas won’t be against unbeaten heavyweight contender Oscar Rivas, according to Journal de Montreal. Although the unbeaten Rivas (26-0, 18 KOs) was one of the three-man short list that was mentioned as in the running for Fury’s next fight on ESPN, as part of his $100 million deal with Top Rank Boxing, it won’t be him. Instead, Fury’s next opponent is expected to be either Bryant Jennings (24-3, 14 KOs) or Manuel Charr (31-4, 17 KOs).

The fans are going to be disappointed if Fury starts facing lower level opposition now that he’s signed with Top Rank. They were hoping that this signing would lead to Fury facing WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in a rematch, and if not him, then Anthony Joshua. If Fury ends up facing guys that have been recently beaten like Jennings and Charr, it would look bad in the eyes of the boxing public.

Rivas, 31, will be on Fury’s undercard for his next fight in June in Las Vegas. The 2008 Olympian Rivas could be a future opponent for Fury. That’s the idea of him fighting on the undercard of Fury’s next fight in June.

Fury’s next fight is expected to be announced in the next few days for June. ESPN and Top Rank will be making the news announcement.

Bryant Jennings, 34, wouldn’t be the greatest option for Fury’s next fight, given that the Philadelphia native Jennings coming off of a 12th round knockout loss to Oscar Rivas in his last fight on January 18 in Verona, New York. It’s unclear what Fury would stand to gain in fighting Jennings in his next fight other than facing one of Top Rank’s stable fighters. Like Fury, Jennings is signed with Top Rank. They were hoping to eventually position Jennings for a crack at a world title against Anthony Joshua, but the loss to Rivas kind of puts a damper on those chances. If Jennings is fed to Fury, then it decreases the chances even more for a title shot for Jennings against Joshua in the distant future.

At this point, it’s anyone’s guess who Fury will be fighting next. Since ESPN will likely have a say so in who Fury fights next, they probably won’t be too excited at the prospect of televising a fight between him and the recently knocked out Bryant Jennings. Since Oscar Rivas is being passed up for the fight with Fury, it stands to reason that Tyson’s next fight will be against someone ranked lower than him in the top 15 rankings at heavyweight. It’ll still likely be someone that has had one of their fights televised in the U.S in the past, and has a recognizable name with the hardcore boxing fans, if not not the casual fans. If Top Rank can’t get Charr to take the fight with Fury, then they’ll likely go for Andy Ruiz Jr., Robert Helenius, Christian Hammer or Agit Kabayel. It doesn’t matter that Fury has already beaten Hammer. If he’s chosen, Top Rank would be counting on the boxing fans not remembering their previous encounter in 2015, which was won by Fury by an 8th round stoppage.