Fury clash against Wilder off for now but could be re-arranged for September, reveals Brit heavyweight’s promoter Arum
Top Rank supremo will now create the Gypsy King’s American bouts while close friend and partner Frank Warren focuses on his UK fights
TYSON FURY’S new co-promoter is already planning his next fight and it is not Deontay Wilder.
Top Rank supremo Bob Arum will now create the Gypsy King’s American bouts while close friend and partner Frank Warren focuses on his UK fights.
Arum is in a promotional war with Wilder’s advisor Al Haymon and it looks impossible for the pair to do business, especially when both are backed by rival US TV stations.
And the 87-year-old ex-Muhammad Ali promoter says he is ready to get Fury an opponent in May to help raise his US profile even higher before revisiting the idea of the rerun.
Arum told the LA Times: “We envision this rematch can reach one to two million homes.
“The only way to do that is to allow the general sports fan to really get to know these guys.
“If that takes each of them fighting another opponent first, then rolling them into a September fight, the money on the table then would be more than they can conceive of, that’s the way I look at it.”
Fury could face WBA regular champion Manuel Charr or another heavyweight from the Top Rank stable in Oscar Rivas.
And Wilder and his team have bragged repeatedly that they do not need the Fury rematch, or the Anthony Joshua undisputed clash, as they have enough opponents planned to last them two more years.
For £80million, Fury’s fights must be shown exclusively on ESPN in America while Wilder is believed to have a loose arrangement with their rival Showtime.
And Arum fired the first shot by claiming the Bronze Bomber would be a 24 Carat thicko for sticking with his TV company.
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The legendary fight mastermind said: “Even Deontay Wilder should be celebrating this because it shows how sincere the involvement of ESPN in boxing is, they’re in with both feet.
“If Wilder allows loyalty to Showtime to be an issue, he’s a fool.
“Wilder should only be looking at how much he can make.”
The WBC, whose belt the December 1 original was for, have sanctioned the return leg and twice extended the negotiation period that ended on Monday.
And president Mauricio Sulaiman was chasing both Warren and Wilder’s manager Shelly Finkel on Monday evening to try to find out what’s happening now the goalposts have moved.
If a deal cannot be cordially agreed then the fight will go to purse bids where the highest bidder would organise the fight and all the technical terms the two camps have been haggling over.
If Wilder's backers are priced out then he could refuse the fight and be stripped of his title, a prospect Sulaiman refuses to speculate on.
He said: “The WBC is not involved in negotiations in any aspect, we will let the promoters handle that. We will contact them to see where they stand and then move from there.
“I am going to contact both parties and follow the WBC protocol, once I have the information from both parties we can put the matter to the board of governors.
“I am sorry but we will not speculate or give an opinion on ‘what if?’
“I can only give an exact position after speaking to both sides. We cannot make any comments on anything that is not fact.”