By William Lloyd: Just moments ago Top Rank promoter Bob Arum confirmed that Tyson Fury will be facing Deontay Wilder in their trilogy fight on July 24th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Arum says they have several venues in Vegas that they’re looking at to stage the Fury – Wilder 3 clash. They’ll be making a joint agreement on the site of the clash within a week.
Contrary to popular opinion, the former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) never asked for a step aside payment, says Arum.
Arum states there were never any negotiations for a step aside deal by Wilder and his team after the results of the arbitration case were revealed last Monday.
Arum is confident that Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) will knockout Wilder faster this time than he did a year ago when he stopped him in the seventh round in February 2020.
The legendary promoter Arum isn’t worried about Fury having lost the arbitration hearing because he feels confident that he’ll defeat Wilder a second time.
What Arum is concerned about is whether IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will win his next fight against WBO mandatory Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) will be defending against the former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs) possibly on August 21 or August 28th.
ARUM BELIEVES THE ARBITRATOR GOT IT WRONG
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose,” said Bob Arum to iFL TV on Tyson Fury losing his arbitration case with Deontay Wilder. “I couldn’t conceive anyway that we would lose that case, I still can’t.
“It’s like baseball if you pardon a sport that isn’t very popular in the UK. You have an umpire, and he’s a competent umpire. The pitcher throws a ball, and the umpire calls it a strike.
“That happens quite a bit, and he’s wrong, but he’s not dishonest. He’s just made a mistake. So that’s how I look at this decision,” said Arum in making it clear that he doesn’t agree with the arbitrator ruling in Deontay Wilder’s favor.
“Nothing will convince me that the decision is correct, but it’s a decision made by a competent judge/arbitrator.
“As people who believe in the law, we will honor that decision, and the decision is to go ahead with the rematch and that’s what we’ll do,” said Arum.
It’s unclear what led to the arbitrator ruling in Wilder’s favor for the case. Unfortunately, that was never spelled out.
What we do know is the arbitrator gave Fury a deadline of September 15th for him to face Wilder, which isn’t a problem.
Team Fury is going to abide by the ruling from the arbitrator and face Wilder on July 24th.
WILDER NEVER ASKED FOR A STEP ASIDE SAYS ARUM
“July 24th in Las Vegas,” said Arum on when the Fury vs. Wilder III fight will take place.
“We’re now talking to the people at the Allegiant Stadium, T-Mobile, MGM, and we’ll figure out jointly by the end of the week which venue we’ll be using and that won’t be a problem, but it’ll definitely be here in Las Vegas.
“I don’t know that as being a fact,” said Arum when asked if the $20 million step aside fee that Fury said that Wilder was asking for was true or not.
“What I got was that he [Wilder] was throwing out a number maybe with the idea that he wasn’t going to step aside.
“I mean, he has a lot of pride, Wilder, and this was his opportunity to fight for the title and get some revenge against Tyson Fury.
“I don’t think it was a money grab completely because we never had any negotiation really about a step aside fee [for Wilder],” said Arum.
As Arum says, Wilder probably wouldn’t have accepted the step aside offer if it was offered to him. Wilder wants to avenge his loss, as he has a lot of pride.
If Fury loses to Wilder, he’s likely going to need to wait until 2022 before he’ll have a chance to get a fourth fight with the American.
In the meantime, Wilder will presumably move ahead to face the winner of the Joshua vs. Usyk clash in November or December for the undisputed championship.
ARUM: FURY KNOCKS WILDER OUT QUICKER
“I think Tyson knocks him out quicker this time than last time,” Arum said in giving his prediction on the Wilder vs. Fury III fight.
“Hopefully,” Arum said on whether we’ll see a Joshua vs. Fury fight later this year.
“I think Joshua has his hands full with [Oleksandr] Usyk, that’s a really good fight. I give Usyk a hell of a chance to upset Joshua in that fight.
“Hopefully, he doesn’t, and hopefully, Tyson comes through, and we can do the unification fight in November or December of this year,” said Arum.
It’s going to be tough for Wilder to improve enough for him to beat Fury because he’s been dominated twice by him in their two fights.
What Wilder has going for him is Fury having gotten out of shape in the last year and a half since their fight in February 2020.
