Tyson Fury must now face Anthony Joshua to finally crown an undisputed heavyweight champion. (photo by Ryan Hafey)
That is the view of Eddie Hearn, the promoter of the WBO, WBA Super, IBF and IBO world champion Joshua.
Fury sensationally dropped Deontay Wilder twice at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday night, exclusively live on BT Sport Box Office, ESPN+ and Fox Pay-Per-View, before stopping him inside seven rounds, after the corner threw in the towel, to claim the WBC world heavyweight title.
And Hearn believes there has never been a better time to agree on a mega-fight for every major belt.
"Fury was brilliant and the tactics from [his trainers] Sugarhill Steward and Andy Lee were spot-on," he exclusively told Sky Sports in the aftermath.
Fury and Wilder battled to a draw 14 months ago at the Staples Center in Los Angeles but, in their return in Sin City, ‘The Gypsy King’ produced one of the best performances from a Brit abroad ever.
An option does exist for a trilogy fight between Wilder and Fury.
Wilder can activate a clause in his contract to face Fury again after being taken to hospital following his first defeat in the professional game as he slipped to 42-1 with 41 quick.
He will have 30 days to decide whether he wants to take on Fury again and the Brit has also revealed he’s open to fighting the American again after dominating.
“I’m sure he’ll want the rematch because he can always knock someone out with one punch,” said Fury. “The spoils of war have just happened. Deontay needs time to recover but I'm almost sure he will take a rematch.”
Joshua has a mandatory defence of his IBF title coming up against Kubrat Pulev, who is promoted by Bob Arum and Top Rank –– who look after Fury’s career Stateside –– and details of that fight will be revealed in due course.
But Fury is confident that he can do similar damage to his next foe, whoever that maybe, next time he steps through the ropes.
“I'm pretty sure we'll do it again if he wants to. If he doesn't want to, whoever’s next will get the same treatment.”
Hearn expects Wilder to exercise his immediate rematch clause.
“I don’t think anyone wants to see a third fight because it was that conclusive but we will see if he exercises that clause. I probably expect Wilder to do that – I don’t see where else he has to go," Hearn told Talk Sport.
“But our mandatory [IBF] challenger, Kubrat Pulev, is also promoted by Bob Arum, like Tyson Fury, so there is a very easy manoeuvre there if Wilder doesn’t accept the rematch to go straight into this undisputed fight in the summer. That is what we have to push for initially.
“If Wilder comes back and says ‘no, I’m having my rematch’ then that is due for July or August, AND it doesn’t really matter because we fight Pulev at Spurs in June and this fight happens in November/December. But our preference is to go straight into it because if we went straight into it, it would be undisputed.
