Deontay Wilder immediately exercised his rematch clause to fight Tyson Fury nearly a week after losing his WBC heavyweight title in a one-sided drubbing to the hands of his archrival.
The trilogy between Fury and Wilder was originally set to take place July 18, and now after the coronavirus pandemic, it is penciled for Oct. 3.
Many observers believe Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) needs more time to introduce new wrinkles in his game in order to beat Fury.
Thus, conversations have been brought to the forefront that Wilder, who fought three times in a span of 10 months before falling to Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) in February, should possibly consider taking additional take time off to recover, and to train and introduce new tactics to his skill set.
In taking the additional time he may need, Wilder could also collect a handsome fee to step aside and let Fury fight fellow Brit and unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs).
Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn, who promotes Joshua, would love to stage an undisputed heavyweight fight without Wilder being in the picture, but he ultimately believes the Alabamian boxer would not be up for it.
“It would be embarrassing [for Wilder], but I would love him to step aside,” Hearn told IFL. “If you believe in yourself and you back yourself, you should never step aside … if you take step aside money, you’re showing terrific weakness because you’re giving someone an opportunity to take what you should feel is yours without you getting an opportunity to win it back.”
“I spoke to Joshua the other night and said imagine [after losing to Andy Ruiz Jr. and then saying] ‘they’ll give you a few quid to step aside’ … how do you think that conversation would have gone? Something like ‘f--- right off. [Joshua] said, ‘there’s not the amount of money in the world that you could have given me to not take that fight’ … if you’re stepping aside, you’re saying, ‘I can’t win.’”
Hearn said if Wilder were to step aside, he would procure a two-fight deal between Fury and Joshua, and thus, further delaying Wilder’s re-entry back into the heavyweight picture.
“You know Deontay Wilder doesn’t particularly like Anthony Joshua. Deontay Wilder definitely doesn’t like me,” said Hearn. “Shelly Finkel, Al Haymon, they definitely don’t like [Joshua]. Do you think they would let Joshua get a chance to become the undisputed heavyweight champion? … knowing Deontay Wilder like I do, I cannot imagine in a million years that Deontay Wilder would step aside for this fight. He has too much pride.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the LA Times, Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports and hosts his own radio show in Los Angeles. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com.
