LAS VEGAS – Ideally, Frank Warren would want Deontay Wilder to turn down the third fight Tyson Fury is contractually obligated to give him.
That would open up Fury’s schedule, according to Warren, for what he deemed would be the biggest sporting event in England in more than 50 years. That’s how huge Warren thinks a Fury-Anthony Joshua showdown would become if those heavyweight champions fought in their home country.
“That would be the biggest sporting event to take place in the UK since England winning the World Cup,” Warren, Fury’s co-promoter, told a group of reporters after Fury’s seventh-round stoppage of Wilder in their rematch Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena. “That’s how big it would be. You would not be able to able to get a ticket for it.”
England won soccer’s World Cup by beating West Germany in July 1966. That championship match drew a crowd of nearly 97,000 to Wembley Stadium in London.
Warren is concerned, however, that Joshua won’t remain a champion long enough to capitalize on the momentum Fury established by becoming the first fighter to beat Alabama’s Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs).
“Joshua’s gotta fight [Kubrat] Pulev,” Warren said. “The stumbling block for [a Fury-Joshua] fight is [Joshua’s] crystal [chin]. We’ll see what happens with that, because if anybody clips him, he’ll go. If I was him, I wouldn’t fight [Pulev]. I would even vacate the belts, and get it on [with Fury]. He should not take the risk. I’d prefer him to not take the risk.”
Bulgaria’s Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs), the mandatory challenger for Joshua’s IBF title, is expected to face the British superstar sometime in the spring at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, a new soccer venue in London. Joshua also has a mandatory defense of his WBO title due against Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs).
Even if Joshua overcomes Pulev, Wilder’s co-managers, Jay Deas and Shelly Finkel, confirmed during the post-fight press conference Saturday night that they expect Wilder to exercise his contractual right to an immediate third fight versus Fury.
Wilder, who didn’t attend the press conference, has 30 days from Saturday night to accept that third fight next. Their contracts call for that third bout to take place by August.
If Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) and Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) do get to the point where their handlers negotiate, Warren would be reasonable with his British rival, Eddie Hearn, whose company promotes Joshua.
“We’ll be generous and give him 50-50,” Warren said. “Really, Joshua is [damaged] goods. Everybody seen what happened [against Ruiz]. And he come back and beat a guy who trained in his fridge. … I’m not taking anything away from Joshua. He trained well. He did what he had to do, but [Fury] is a different fighter.”
Warren added that Fury “would absolutely stop” Joshua if they fought. Joshua regained his IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles from Andy Ruiz Jr. on December 7, when Joshua out-boxed an out-of-shape Ruiz (33-2, 22 KOs) and won a 12-round unanimous decision in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
Ruiz dropped Joshua four times in their first fight and upset him by seventh-round TKO on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.