Eddie Hearn, promoter for WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, has serious doubts about Tyson Fury actually following through with a year-end fight with WBC world champion Deontay Wilder.
The teams for Fury and Wilder are in talks for a showdown in November, in Las Vegas.
Both sides claim a deal is very close to being finalized, which Hearn doubts is true.
Wilder was in action back in March, when he stopped undefeated Luis Ortiz in the tenth round at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Fury snapped a long layoff back in June, when he returned to the ring for the first time since November 2015 and dominated overmatched Sefer Sefari for a fourth round stoppage.
Now Fury (26-0, 19 KOs) is back in action on August 18th in Belfast, against world title challenger Francesco Pianetti. Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) is scheduled to be ringside.
Provided Fury wins his next fight, he is being pushed as Wilder's next opponent in the fall.
Hearn does not expect Fury to fight Tony Bellew, Dillian Whyte or Wilder until 2019 at the very earliest.
“What? When he’s just fought Sefer Seferi? And now he’s fighting Andrea Pizza-netta. Don’t be ridiculous. Listen you can be bluffed out by what you want: ‘Oh wow, yeah, let’s tune in to Fury’s next fight because if he wins this he’s gonna fight Wilder," Hearn told IFL TV.
“He won’t fight Bellew, he won’t fight Dillian Whyte. He ain’t gonna fight Deontay Wilder. I’m sure he will next year, he’ll fight everybody. But he’s got no confidence at the moment; he’s just been out the ring for two years.
“But it’s a great story to be fair. It’s good for the hype.”
Wilder was in talks to fight Joshua in the fall, but the two sides were unable to reach an agreement. Instead, Joshua is facing mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin on September 22nd at Wembley in London.