For a fight allegedly set in stone months ago, Tyson Fury’s focus seems to be anywhere but on a rematch with Deontay Wilder—or boxing in general.
The unbeaten heavyweight from England will make his official World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) ring debut this week, taking on established professional wrestler Braun Strowman this Thursday at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event comes just six weeks after Fury’s last fight, a 12-round win over Sweden’s Otto Wallin where he suffered a gruesome cut which required nearly 50 stiches.
It also takes place a month before Wilder (41-0-1, 40KOs) squares off with Luis Ortiz (31-1, 27KOs; 2NCs) in their Nov. 23 heavyweight title fight rematch in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Fury and Wilder fought to a disputed 12-round draw last December in Los Angeles, California. Most viewers believed the verdict should have been awarded to Fury, who outboxed Wilder for most of the night but who suffered two vicious knockdowns. The far more iconic of the two was the 12th round flooring from which he dramatically rose from the canvas and finished the fight.
A rematch was negotiated and believed to be set for this past May, only for Fury to balk at the 11th hour and instead sign a long-term deal with Top Rank and ESPN+. He’s since fought twice on the streaming platform, although has managed to find his way back to an agreed upon rematch. A win by Wilder in November is due to set up the sequel, tentatively slated for next February and also in Las Vegas.
The way Fury tells it, though, there are other adventures in mind even after his wrestling journey and before any such bout with Wilder.
“Who knows? I have got something big coming up after this, even bigger than this,” Fury (28-0-1, 20KOs) told Sky Sports on Sunday, while on hand at London’s Wembley Stadium for a National Football League (NFL) game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams. “We might see Tyson Fury have his MMA (mixed martial arts) debut this year.
“Tyson Fury is taking over.”
Fury has proven to be a moving target in the past, which makes it difficult to decipher which parts are true and which statements are just for the sake of making headlines. Still, the former World heavyweight champion—who returned to the ring last June after a 30-plus month hiatus following his Nov. 2015 lineal championship win over Wladimir Klitschko—is going all the way through with his wrestling dream, a move that came without the knowledge of co-promoter Frank Warren.
This week’s show taking place in Saudi Arabia has come under heavy scrutiny from wrestling fans and human rights activists. This show and previous trips by the WWE and other sporting events classified as part of the nation’s “sportswashing” movement—a regime viewed as corrupt or tyrannical using sports for the sake of positive press.
Fury has avoided such scrutiny in boxing circles thus far, despite similar backlash being afforded the Dec. 7 heavyweight title fight rematch between Andy Ruiz and Anthony Joshua. That event will stream live on DAZN from Diriyah, right outside the national’s capital city Riyadh which hosts the aforementioned WWE event.
A similarly limited amount of energy has been spent on the manner in which he plans to prepare for an alleged MMA adventure. Fury plans to enlist the services of disgraced UFC superstar Conor McGregor, a former pound-for-pound king who hasn’t fought since a submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov last October and who is currently the subject of two sexual assault investigations in his native Ireland.
“I have been speaking to Conor about it,” Fury insists. “He's willing to train me. It's gonna be good. He's just said any time that you are ready come over to Dublin and let's go. I can't wait, I'm going to take him up on the offer. Who knows we might be on a doubleheader. The Gypsy King and Conor McGregor.
“You saw in my last fight that there was blood everywhere, it's nothing new to me. It's all a part of my heritage. I would love to get in there and smash someone up.”
For whatever it’s worth, McGregor seems to be on board.
“Up the Fury’s! Let’s go,” tweeted McGregor, who allegedly plans to return to the Octagon next January.
Wilder and his handlers declined comment on this development, in part to questioning its validity. Of greater concern is preparing for his dedicated life as a boxer, primarily training for next month’s rematch with Ortiz, whom he stopped in the 10th round of their thriller last March.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
