By Tim Parsons
Promoter Eddie Hearns has accused Tyson Fury of cashing out in his decision to face unbeaten American, Deontey Wilder.Wilder and Joshua are scheduled to fight in December, with the big announcement due to be made next week.
Hearns, who promotes Britain’s golden heavyweight world champion, Anthony Joshua also made it clear that a fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will never happen if Fury gets knocked out by Joshua when the pair meet at the end of the year.
”I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’s cashing out, Hearns said.
“I’m sure Fury thinks he can win, because that’s what fighters do — they believe they can win fights. But he’s smart enough to know in his mind he’s nowhere near ready. I don’t think, if you had ambitions to try to be king of the division, that you would take a fight when everyone knows you’re not ready.
“The problem is it’s one thing training for Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pianeta (the two opponents Fury has beaten during his comeback). He’s smart enough to know he’s not match-fit for Deontay Wilder”. Hearns said that if Fury gets knocked out, he is over and a future fight between Fury and Joshua will never happen. Fury might not care about facing Joshua when faced with the prospect of making £10m now, and possibly becoming heavyweight champion again, if he really believes he can win.
Fury has gone on social media to claim he is fighting to win and not fighting for the money, although most boxing fans believe he has no chance of beating Wilder. Fury has been out of the ring for nearly 3 years and will be facing Wilder, who has been active and training all year round. Wilder has knocked out all but one of his 40 opponents and is always ring fit. He will be expected to beat Fury, but that cannot be a forgone conclusion. Fury is 6ft 9 inches and over 18 stonnes. A fully motivated Fury in training for the past few months and up until December could pull this is off and shock the world if his belief is genuinely high.
Fury’s mobility for his size is good, and if he comes in at 18 stonnes or a little lighter, this could be the fight where he puts his very best on show and pulls off a surprise. Fury’s size and potential suggests he can possibly outbox and beat Wilder on his day, but a comfortable and easy victory for Wilder will prove in hindsight that Fury was actually cashing in because he should know himself whether he stands a chance of defeating Wilder in December. The fact Fury has previously turned down fights against Tony Bellew and Dillian Whyte makes it suspect that his willingness to meet Wilder was influenced by the £10m or so pay day he stands to earn from the fight.
Fury can still squeeze in two fights before December if he and his team really want, without sustaining injury(he rarely ever gets marked in fights), but his team would not want to risk defeat before meeting Wilder, but that’s what he needs to increase his chances of winning.Most people will believe he is cashing out, and only Tyson Fury himself can prove the world wrong by winning, or putting up a very good fight even in defeat.