Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) signed the contract for his third fight against Deontay Wilder on Saturday night in an announcement he made on ESPN. Fury will be defending his WBA heavyweight title against Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) on July 24th at the brand new 65,000 seat Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Fury had to be ordered to fight Wilder by an arbitrator last Monday after he lost his case. The big British heavyweight didn’t want to give Wilder a rematch despite having a rematch clause in the contract from last year that he activated.
Fury was trying to set up an August 14th fight with IBF/WBA/WBO champion Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia. However, the arbitrator threw a wrench into those plans, ordering Fury to face Wilder by September 15th.
Fury says he will face Joshua in 2021, albeit after he defeats Wilder on July 24th.
“AJ’s got a big mouth with no substance. [That fight] happens this year,” said Fury. “I’m going to deal with this mug [Wilder], knock him out cold, then I’m going to deal with the other guy [Joshua] straightaway.”
The first Fury vs. Wilder fight was scored a 12 round draw in 2018, although many boxing fans believe Deontay was robbed of a knockout in the 12th.
In their second fight in February of 2020, Fury stopped Wilder in the seventh. However, there was a controversy over Fury’s flapping gloves and the rabbit punches he was hitting Wilder with throughout the contest. It appeared that the referee was standing around and not doing a good job of policing the fouling.
“This guy is a glutton for punishment,” said Fury about Wilder. “He’s an idiot. He got absolutely dismantled and smashed to bits in our last fight, and he wants that all over again.
“He’s telling people I cracked his skull, I injured his shoulder, I did his bicep, yet he wants to get in there with me again. It’s one of two things. He’s absolutely crazy, or he’s a sucker for punishment,” said Fury.
Interestingly, Fury didn’t want to give Wilder his contractual rematch. He says it will be easy for him to beat him, but, strangely, he didn’t get the rematch with Wilder over with late last year rather than waiting until an arbitrator ordered it.
If Wilder had lost the arbitration case, Fury would have been able to walk away without giving him a rematch despite him having a contract.
According to one of his sparring partners, Wilder had the right bicep injury before fighting Fury, which helped him train for the fight. Fury can’t take credit for that.
There was a lot of criticism of Fury on Youtube from boxing fans, who thought it was odd that his gloves flopped around during the fight.
“I’ve got to beat up Deontay Wilder a bit better than last time because he didn’t get a good enough hiding,” said Fury. “This time, I’m going to really double, double treble smash him.”
