By Keith Idec
LOS ANGELES – It’ll ultimately be up to Deontay Wilder to decide whether a rematch with Tyson Fury will be his next fight.
Fury and promoter Frank Warren would welcome that second chance to fight for Wilder’s WBC heavyweight title. If it happens, though, they want Wilder to face Fury somewhere in the United Kingdom next time.
Warren mentioned Wembley Stadium or Aresenal’s Emirates Stadium, both located in London, as potential sites for a Wilder-Fury rematch during their post-fight press conference Saturday night at Staples Center. Wherever it takes place, there will be more demand for Wilder-Fury II than their first fight due to the fascinating nature of their 12-round split draw, in which Fury overcame two devastating knockdowns.
“Well, at the end of the day, that’s gonna be down to Tyson,” Warren said. “But from my perspective, I’d love the rematch. I’d love to see it in the UK. We’d fill a football stadium up. We’d fill up Wembley, Arsenal, any of those big stadiums.”
The jovial Fury interrupted his promoter and suggested Old Trafford, the home stadium of Manchester United, in Manchester, Fury’s hometown. Warren laughed and acknowledged that possible site.
“Do we want the fight?,” Warren asked. “Whatever the result was – I thought Tyson won it and I thought he won it well – whatever the result of the fight was, it was a fight that you wanna see again. Irrespective of a draw or whoever won the fight, it’s one of those fights that you wanna see it again. We wanna do it again, but we wanna do it in the UK. That’s where it should be, the next one. He came here. He’s traveled to Germany, the other guy’s backyard, Klitschko, he’s come here. Now let him have some home turf, because home turf, he’d have won that fight.”
Fury defeated Wladimir Klitschko by unanimous decision in their 12-round fight three years ago in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Klitschko was a 4-1 favorite in November 2015, but Fury clearly out-boxed the long-reigning champion to win the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles. The retired Klitschko is from Ukraine, but he resided in Germany for many years and boxed in his adopted home country numerous times throughout his lengthy career.
Klitschko’s backyard advantage didn’t matter, as all three judges – California’s Raul Caiz Sr. (115-112), Argentina’s Ramon Cerdan (116-111) and Puerto Rico’s Cesar Ramos (115-112) – scored Fury the winner of their unremarkable bout.
The referee, Nevada’s Tony Weeks, took away a point from Fury in the 11th round for hitting Klitschko behind his head.[KI1]
Only one judge Saturday night, Canada’s Robert Tapper, scored Fury a victor over Wilder (114-112). Another judge, California’s Alejandro Rochin, scored their fight for Wilder (115-111).
The other judge, England’s Phil Edwards, scored the action even (113-113) in the main event of Showtime Pay-Per-View’s four-fight telecast.
As much as Fury (27-0-1, 19 KOs) wants another shot at Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KOs), the lineal heavyweight champion didn’t want to discuss when and where the rematch might take place in the immediate aftermath of his compelling performance.
“You know what,” Fury said, “like I said, I’m just gonna enjoy this moment because the last big fight I had, I didn’t enjoy the moment. I was depressed right away, afterwards. But now, I’m feeling fine and I’m just gonna enjoy the moment. It was a good fight, I put in hard work in the training camp. I’m gonna go home, enjoy me family.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.