If Wilder vs Fury Goes to Purse Bid.......

This was a great opportunity to strike while the iron is hot, rematch sells itself and would undoubtedly do better than the first fight. Add on top of that AJ’s US debut and the HW market in the US becomes way more lucrative. Completely agree on the second part all the politics just confuses people. It’d be like Croatia and France both winning their World Cup semi finals and then not playing one another. Fans of any sport want to see the best compete against the best. It is difficult for the hardcore fans to follow what exactly is going on with which fighter fights for which network. How do you expect the casual fan to understand this? They will just be wondering why we aren't getting Wilder vs Joshua or Wilder vs Fury. They don't know about the different network deals and let's be real, nor do they care for all that. Yeah, the winner of the rematch was going to be increase their profile big time and then the Joshua showdown either late 2019 or early 2020 would have been insanely big. Imagine what Haymon/Finkel thought this morning hearing this news LOL.

For sure, I thought the PPV was going to do really good numbers. Still have hope it takes place. It was just perfect with this fight happening two weeks before Joshua's US debut. The HW division was going to be buzzing across both sides of the pond. Boxing is never dull, I'll give it that much lol. But it is funny when people want to argue why it is considered a niche sport and then they wonder why it isn't bigger. Well, I mean you literally have three different factions where we miss out on most fights depending on the allegiances of the fighters. What do you expect? This was a great opportunity to strike while the iron is hot, rematch sells itself and would undoubtedly do better than the first fight. Add on top of that AJ’s US debut and the HW market in the US becomes way more lucrative. Completely agree on the second part all the politics just confuses people. It’d be like Croatia and France both winning their World Cup semi finals and then not playing one another. Fans of any sport want to see the best compete against the best.

Maybe they do still plan on capitalising it? Maybe Warren and Fury are so confident that they can strong-arm Wilder to make the fight on Fury's terms so Fury actually has a chance to win on the cards. I hope so... that’s what was so enjoyable about Wilder-Fury, there were little to no politics involved in the negotiations, a deal was made and the fight happpened. There was none of this “he said, she said” BS we constantly get with AJ-Wilder negotiations

If the deal gives him financial security I can’t fault him either tbh. I’m just becoming very disillusioned with the HW division, Wilder-Fury created a real buzz especially in the US which hadn’t had that kind of HW buzz for over a decade, I really wanted them to capitalise on it. For sure, I thought the PPV was going to do really good numbers. Still have hope it takes place. It was just perfect with this fight happening two weeks before Joshua's US debut. The HW division was going to be buzzing across both sides of the pond. Boxing is never dull, I'll give it that much lol. But it is funny when people want to argue why it is considered a niche sport and then they wonder why it isn't bigger. Well, I mean you literally have three different factions where we miss out on most fights depending on the allegiances of the fighters. What do you expect?

Haha yeah, well not 100% exclusivity, but theyd still be on the network. Actually Finkel has come out now and said he'd be willing to do Wilder/Fury on both Showtime/ESPN, lets see how that plays out. Yeah, that is the best hope of this fight taking place. I'm actually interested in seeing if they can get this SHO/ESPN dual PPV deal done. LIS, it makes it more likely we will be able to get Spence/Crawford in the near future then. Arum on the other hand is already blasting SHO and making it seem like the fight should only happen on ESPN PPV LOL.

If the deal gives him financial security I can’t fault him either tbh. I’m just becoming very disillusioned with the HW division, Wilder-Fury created a real buzz especially in the US which hadn’t had that kind of HW buzz for over a decade, I really wanted them to capitalise on it. Maybe they do still plan on capitalising it? Maybe Warren and Fury are so confident that they can strong-arm Wilder to make the fight on Fury's terms so Fury actually has a chance to win on the cards.

If it goes to purse bids and ESPN lose, Fury can just pull out. Nothing lost, apart from a shot at the title. If Wilder loses, he can't pull out of the purse bid as that would mean vacating his title. If Dazn win the purse bid, the fight won't happen.

All these deals mention exclusive and like I said, it hardly ever means that. If it did, then why does Arum always say they can do a Co-PPV for Crawford/Spence since Crawford has an exclusive deal with ESPN? Haha yeah, well not 100% exclusivity, but theyd still be on the network. Actually Finkel has come out now and said he'd be willing to do Wilder/Fury on both Showtime/ESPN, lets see how that plays out.

It's just that Warren didn't even tell Wilder's side they were negotiating with ESPN which screwed the chances of the Joshua fight happening. I mean of course it is going to throw a wrench in the plans of the rematch happening. Doesn't mean the rematch won't happen, but you would like to know this ahead of time lol. I never fault fighters for taking deals that are the best for them. Maybe Fury is getting paid an insane amount like rumored and just couldn't turn it down. Fair play to him. But come on, now you have Warren saying screw Wilder and if he wants the fight come to ESPN etc. You damn well know it isn't just that easy, Frank. But let's see how it plays out. If the deal gives him financial security I can’t fault him either tbh. I’m just becoming very disillusioned with the HW division, Wilder-Fury created a real buzz especially in the US which hadn’t had that kind of HW buzz for over a decade, I really wanted them to capitalise on it.

That's true. They didn't even tell Wilder these negotiations with Top Rank were going on. And they made sure that a fight with Anthony Joshua was off the table first before announcing this. Bob Arum is a devil. No doubt about it That's really the main thing here. Warren kept this from team Wilder when they knew it was going to be a big hurdle. They had their reasons for it, and maybe Warren wanted to assure the Joshua/Wilder didn't take place next. So he dragged this on as long as he could and then revealed it when it seemed like an announcement was close. Warren and Aurm are two OGs in the game, they know what they are doing lol.

The PBC/ITV deal's press release sure mentions exclusive a lot https://www.itv.com/news/2018-12-11/itv-announce-groundbreaking-deal-with-haymon-sports-and-premier-boxing-champions/ All these deals mention exclusive and like I said, it hardly ever means that. If it did, then why does Arum always say they can do a Co-PPV for Crawford/Spence since Crawford has an exclusive deal with ESPN?

I don't think that would have been much of a problem to be honest. The fight could have been on BT Sports PPV or whatever it is called. The PBC/ITV deal's press release sure mentions exclusive a lot https://www.itv.com/news/2018-12-11/itv-announce-groundbreaking-deal-with-haymon-sports-and-premier-boxing-champions/

Maybe it was PBC signing an exclusive deal with ITV that had something to do with it. Fury is a BT fighter, the rematch would have cut BT out of the deal. Aligning with ESPN/Top Rank ensures Fury's fights will be on ESPN/BT Sport. I don't think that would have been much of a problem to be honest. The fight could have been on BT Sports PPV or whatever it is called.

Maybe it was PBC signing an exclusive deal with ITV that had something to do with it. Fury is a BT fighter, the rematch would have cut BT out of the deal. Aligning with ESPN/Top Rank ensures Fury's fights will be on ESPN/BT Sport.

It's just that Warren didn't even tell Wilder's side they were negotiating with ESPN which screwed the chances of the Joshua fight happening. I mean of course it is going to throw a wrench in the plans of the rematch happening. Doesn't mean the rematch won't happen, but you would like to know this ahead of time lol. I never fault fighters for taking deals that are the best for them. Maybe Fury is getting paid an insane amount like rumored and just couldn't turn it down. Fair play to him. But come on, now you have Warren saying screw Wilder and if he wants the fight come to ESPN etc. You damn well know it isn't just that easy, Frank. But let's see how it plays out. That's true. They didn't even tell Wilder these negotiations with Top Rank were going on. And they made sure that a fight with Anthony Joshua was off the table first before announcing this. Bob Arum is a devil. No doubt about it

Good point. Fury going to ESPN is such a strange move, I felt it made perfect sense doing the rematch on Showtime/BT, this ESPN deal will massively complicate negotiations IMO It's just that Warren didn't even tell Wilder's side they were negotiating with ESPN which screwed the chances of the Joshua fight happening. I mean of course it is going to throw a wrench in the plans of the rematch happening. Doesn't mean the rematch won't happen, but you would like to know this ahead of time lol. I never fault fighters for taking deals that are the best for them. Maybe Fury is getting paid an insane amount like rumored and just couldn't turn it down. Fair play to him. But come on, now you have Warren saying screw Wilder and if he wants the fight come to ESPN etc. You damn well know it isn't just that easy, Frank. But let's see how it plays out.

If you're Wilder you can't pull out though right, since the WBC strap means so much for him and the PBC? It could potentially land them Whyte for a few fights and they also have Ortiz/Breazeale/Kownacki/Ruiz/etc. I just have never seen where networks on both sides are affected like in this case. Can Fury even fight outside of BT Sports? Interesting interesting stuff. Good point. Fury going to ESPN is such a strange move, I felt it made perfect sense doing the rematch on Showtime/BT, this ESPN deal will massively complicate negotiations IMO

It would be very interesting to see how it played out. ITV would/could give them fantastic exposure. My thoughts are if a deal can’t be reached one or both sides will pull out of a potential purse bid. If you're Wilder you can't pull out though right, since the WBC strap means so much for him and the PBC? It could potentially land them Whyte for a few fights and they also have Ortiz/Breazeale/Kownacki/Ruiz/etc. I just have never seen where networks on both sides are affected like in this case. Can Fury even fight outside of BT Sports? Interesting interesting stuff.

And hypothetically say Wilder's side wins, they will get to dictate terms for the US broadcaster (SHO) of course, but would they also be able to dictate the UK broadcaster? Like could they put the fight on ITV if they wanted to? Interesting times in boxing where you have fighters/companies operating on both sides of the pond with network deals. It would be very interesting to see how it played out. ITV would/could give them fantastic exposure. My thoughts are if a deal can’t be reached one or both sides will pull out of a potential purse bid.