CAPE TOWN - Tyson Fury’s father, John, is livid that his son didn’t give back the world title belt he won from Deontay Wilder to ensure he first faced Anthony Joshua.
Fury’s hyped showdown with Joshua was confirmed just a few weeks ago before an arbitration court ruling forced Fury to fight Wilder for a third time, as per an existing clause in their original fight contract.
Fury’s promoter Bob Arum has pleaded helpless to change the situation, saying the only way to force Wilder’s hand is to pay him out for not fighting Fury.
Wilder has asked for an outrageous amount, which Fury simply refuses to entertain.
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Fury senior’s concern is that his son will be ill-prepared to deal with Wilder, having focused his training entirely on Joshua.
A flummoxed Fury (senior) accused his son of not being able to think straight and also lambasted Arum for not looking after his boy.
“It’s diabolical. You’re geared up to fight one man, and all of a sudden on the 11th hour it’s all sorted in 24 hours (that you fight someone else),” said Fury senior in a blast to Arum.
“Anything rushed is no good and this has been rushed. He was fighting AJ. I told him in a phone conversation to chuck the belt in the bin, let him (Wilder) have it and fight AJ on 14th August as was planned.”
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(Tyson) Fury, who drew the first fight with Wilder after surviving a last round knockdown, stunned Wilder in the second fight with a brutal display of power hitting to win by TKO. He hasn’t fought since. Joshua, who lost to Andy Ruiz Jnr in arguably the biggest heavyweight upset since Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson, redeemed himself and his standing in heavyweight boxing by beating Ruiz junior in the rematch.
Fury is unbeaten in his career and has described himself as the greatest heavyweight of his generation and possibly as the greatest to ever fight.
The jury is out on that boast, but beating Joshua would have left him with nothing more to achieve. His legacy would have been sealed as the best of his era.
He destroyed Wilder in the second fight after getting up in the first fight from a punch that would have sent most to mars and back.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn accused Fury of ‘f ****** up the biggest fight of the century’ in not fighting Joshua.
All the risk is now with Tyson Fury. He loses to Wilder and there may not ever be a Joshua fight. It may then be that Fury wants another fight with Wilder and Wilder may not be interested and claim a third fight victory as his redemption and curtain call.
Fury’s strength in the heavyweight division is playing out like an episode in the Survivor Series. A few weeks ago, he held all the power; now he effectively has to win immunity (in beating Wilder) to stay in the game.
Fury senior isn’t convinced such a script, easily written, will be as easily actioned.
He thinks both his son and Joshua could lose in the next few months.
“Both could get complacent, thinking about the other, and all of a sudden you are doing something else. They’re geared up to fight the biggest fight in history. Now we have two warm-up fights in between …’ grimaced Fury senior.
(Tyson) Fury’s demeanor hasn’t changed. He maintains whether it is Wilder, then Joshua, or Joshua then Wilder, it won’t change the outcome.
The ‘Gypsy King’, to quote the Gypsy King, will prevail because, to again quote Fury in his many social media posts, both Wilder and Joshua are ‘Dossers’ who will be taking a beating.
His confidence is such that this week he posted a picture of a cheesecake: “Deontay Wilder is nothing more than a cheesecake himself, with ice cream on the side.” His next picture was tucking into the cheesecake.
You see that and you understand why Fury senior is worried. Then again, he isn’t the one who gets into the ring, and throughout his professional career Tyson Fury has backed up every bit of talk with action in the ring.