By Norm Frauenheim–
It’s been called a surprise, Maybe, it was. Maybe, it was an artful feint. Whatever it was, an arbitrator’s ruling looks to be a win for Tyson Fury.
Former federal judge Daniel Weinstein abruptly silenced all the hype for a Fury-Anthony Joshua fight in Saudi Arabia with a decision last week that Fury owes Deontay Wilder a second rematch.
Fury-Joshua, a fight for the unified heavyweight title, was said to be a done deal. Now it’s gone, faster than a desert mirage.
There’s anger, seemingly all from Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn, who for months had trumpeted the proposed fight as a showdown for the ages.
But a promised date with history came undone because of a contract clause. It’s as if the king’s clothes suddenly unraveled because of an unseen flaw in an overlooked stitch. Nobody saw it, or if they did, nobody was concerned about it.
Hearn sounds as if he’s embarrassed. Fury has yet to express any frustration. Even Fury had announced on social media that he would be fighting Joshua on August 14.
The next day, Weinstein issued a KO ruling, saying no, Fury would have to honor the clause and fight Wilder before Sept. 15. Within days, Joshua and Wilder had a date, July 24, for a third fight in Las Vegas.
Then, Fury showed up at ringside last Saturday for Josh Taylor’s compelling decision over Jose Ramirez for the unified junior-welterweight titles at Vegas’ Virgin Hotels. He signed autographs. He posed for photos. He smiled. He had the look of a man happy to move on.
“If this was me in that case, I would have done absolutely everything I could to save this fight,’’ Hearn told IFL TV Tuesday. “They didn’t try one thing. That also sits on Tyson Fury, because he didn’t try and do one thing either. There’s nothing I can do about it because, as I said leading up to this fight, the only thing I can’t control is their team. But where are your bollocks, Tyson Fury? If you really wanted this AJ fight, you have not said anything negative about this situation.
“You have not said how disappointed you are, you have not looked at your promoters – who clearly could have terminated this contract a long time ago – and gone: ‘What have you done? You’ve not only cost me fifty or sixty million dollars, you’ve cost me the biggest fight of all time, the undisputed fight because you’ve dropped the ball. And if you haven’t dropped the ball, why are you not fighting this and trying to come up with a Plan B.’
“I’ve not seen one thing from Tyson Fury, where he’s saying – ‘I’m devastated, I can’t believe this, we had a deal in place, I was happy, guys, I’m sorry.’ “
Memo to Eddie Hearn: Fury didn’t say anything negative — isn’t sorry – because he got exactly what he wanted.
Throughout the long-winded negotiation, Hearn was too busy talking to Saudi Princes, instead of listening to what Fury was saying. All along, Fury said he wanted a tune-up.
His decision to walk away from a third bout with Wilder initially came about because he wanted to fight.
Early last October, Fury declared that the clause for a third fight had expired in the weeks since his stoppage of Wilder on Feb 22, 2020 at Vegas’ MGM Grand.
Fury said he needed to stay busy. He then went ahead with plans for a stay-busy fight in the UK late last year. But those plans were cancelled because of a COVID surge in the UK. Meanwhile, talks with UK rival Joshua had begun. Joshua went on to stop Kubrat Pulev on Dec. 13 in London. But Fury remained idle, yet he continued to hint that he wanted – needed – a tune-up.
Weinstein gave him one.
Wilder’s power is still a risk. It always will be. But Fury has dealt with it. He survived it, getting up twice in their first fight, first in the ninth round and again in 12th, in a Dec. 1, 2018 bout that ended in a split-draw.
In the rematch, Fury went straight at Wilder, suffocating him and never allowing him the leverage he needs to launch his right hand. Fury won easily, forcing Wilder’s corner to throw in the towel in the seventh. It was a surprise. Many corners, including this one, thought Wilder’s power would prevail all over again. But Fury proved that Wilder had only power. Take it away and he was clueless.
Fury’s tactics looked reckless. Five months earlier, He had suffered a nasty cut over his right eye in a tune-up win over a little-known Swede, Otto Wallin. The guess was that Wilder would re-open that cut. A scar is still evident. But Wilder never got close to that scar. He simply didn’t have enough in his limited skillset to set up a shot against the clever, ever-elusive Fury. It’s hard to see it going any other way on July 24. Fury knows exactly who he’s fighting in this tune-up, unlike his tune-up against Wallin.
Meanwhile, Joshua faces a far more challenging task in a mandatory defense against Oleksandr Usyk, who is two fights into his heavyweight career after dominating the cruiserweight division. Usyk beat Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora, but his performance in both left doubts. There are questions about his power and size against the giants in the heavyweight division. Nevertheless, Usyk still has dangerous potential.
Put it this way: Who would you pick in a Usyk-Andy Ruiz Jr. fight? Ruiz upset Joshua in a stunner on June 1, 2019. Joshua avenged the loss, yet he fought cautiously in winning a decision throughout a rematch in Saudi Arabia. The 6-foot-3 Usyk is an inch taller than Ruiz, listed 6-2. Usyk’s 78-inch reach gives him a four-inch advantage over Ruiz, listed at 74. Usyk is not as heavy as Ruiz, whose battle with weight led to lousy conditioning in the Joshua rematch.
Translation: Usyk is a much bigger threat to Joshua than Wilder is to Fury in a third fight.
Fury should send Weinstein a thank-you note.
