By Tim Parsons-
Bob Arum has said that Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas has been reserved for a Fury-Wilder fight on 24 July, and that his team will not be offering Deontey Wilder any step aside money in order to allow a Fury-Joshua showdown as planned for August 14.
His comments appear to mean that short of some spectacular change in plans, the Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury fight will be postponed until after Deontey Wilder has his shot at potential revenge.
Arum seems confident that Tyson Fury will repeat the conquest against big punching Deontey Wilder, after he comprehensively subdued the former WBC champion last December.
“We’re not paying Wilder to step aside,” Arum said. “It’s better to get rid of him and go about our business. We can make the Fury-Joshua fight for November or December.”
His comments came following the order for Tyson Fury to fight Deontey Wilder for a third time, in order to honour their contractual agreements.
On Monday a US judge ruled in mediation that Wilder has a right to face Fury for a third time before 15 September. The ruling confirms that Tyson Fury and his team were somehow in breach of contractual terms with Wilder for a trilogy.
“Until we can reach an accommodation with Deontay Wilder’s people, I can’t say that [Fury’s fight with Joshua] will definitely happen,” Fury’s promoter Frank Warren told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.
“But we are working hard to get that over the line. We were talking last night and hopefully we can do that. If not then Tyson, if he wishes, will go to the fight with Wilder. They’re the only two options.”
Meanwhile , Deontey Wilder has asked for the equivalent of $20m to step aside- a request Tyson Fury has mocked on social media.
Wilder’s new trainer Malik Scott has also ridiculed any hopes of Fury fighting AJ after claiming that the Bronze Bomber is more concerned about getting revenge than a payday.
Scott, 40, posted: ‘Wilder declined and had no interest in step-aside money. Y’all dealing with a whole different type motherf***a over here.
‘He want the blood, not that step-aside money. “Retribution is upon us”.’
Back-up plans have already been made in the event that Wilder doesn’t accept Team Fury’s offer, with Arum reserving the new 65,000-seater Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for July 24 should their trilogy fight have to happen next.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn, meanwhile, has also opened up talks for the unified champion to instead face WBO mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk in mid-to-late August.
The timing of the announcement was odd, considering that Just 24 hours before Monday’s arbitration hearing, Fury confirmed he had agreed to fight fellow Briton Joshua – holder of the IBF, WBA and WBO belts – for all four heavyweight world titles in Saudi Arabia on 14 August.
A lot of time and money had bene out into making the Joshua-Fury fight happen this summer, but that may now be delayed until around December, unless Wilder is offered his request, and he accepts.
If as his trainer Malik Scott says, revenge is all that is on the American’s mind, then he won’t be accepting any step aside money. The fact Wilder put a sum for step aside money may be a sign he wants to be able to consider a big pay day to sit at home day, or just watch whether Fury’s team come crawling to him with the offer he wants.
Wilder is now in the driver seat, and the world waits to see what happens next.