Promoter Bob Arum says he cannot understand or “fathom,” why heavyweight rivals Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury are not fighting their big and much looked forward to rematch next, instead of both men taking an interim bout. Arum, in speaking with BBC Sport Northern Ireland, spoke of his concerns that one guy may actually lose his interim bout, or maybe even both unbeaten fighters may lose.
If that happened, it would very possibly be curtains for Wilder-Fury II, Arum fears.
“The deal is done,” Arum said of Fury-Wilder II. “But like anything else in boxing it could be an undone deal. Each of these guys are having an interim fight for whatever reason I can’t fathom. Wilder is fighting Ortiz who had him in trouble the last time they fought and Fury is fighting this big Swedish kid in September. Hopefully, they get by, win their fights. Then we have a date already and we have two networks that are going to participate in this event. Everything is set but one of these could end up losing.”
It would be a big upset if Ortiz managed to beat Wilder, and an ever bigger upset if the unbeaten but seriously untested Wallin managed to defeat Fury. But Arum has been around long enough to know that ANYTHING can happen in boxing, especially in heavyweight boxing.
Should Wilder and Fury have got right down to it and, having each had an interim bout already – Wilder crushing his mandatory challenger Dominic Breazeale, Fury taking out Tom Schwarz almost as fast – should they have agreed to fight their rematch this year? Let’s hope Arum’s concerns do not prove justified. We need to see that rematch between Fury and Wilder.
We just have to wait until 2020 for it.
Out of the two of them, Wilder is clearly taking the bigger risk. Ortiz may be close to 50 years old in the opinion of some, yet he is indeed dangerously powerful. Wallin, we know next to nothing about. Many fans feel Fury beat Wilder back on December 1, but there is no question Wilder is fighting the better overall quality of opposition out of the two of them.
Still, this will all count for pretty much nothing when the two get it on next year. Again, here’s hoping they do so.
