Top Rank CEO Bob Arum strongly fancies his fighter Tyson Fury’s chances against fellow heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
WBC king Fury and WBA Super, WBO and IBF title-holder Joshua are scheduled to meet in a two-fight series in 2021, should they safely negotiate December assignments against Agit Kabayel and Kubrat Pulev respectively.
Arum generally has little interest in contracted rematches, but says Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn insisted on a two-fight deal that may prove less than enticing if Fury dominates the first encounter.
“When [a two-fight series] was proposed to us on Fury’s side by Eddie, that’s what he proposed. A fight and a rematch. I’m against rematches. If Joshua beats Pulev and Fury fights Joshua, I really believe that Fury will take Joshua out in two or three rounds, if that long,” Arum told the Gary Newbon Sports Show.
“And then, so who wants to see a rematch? But if Eddie insists on that rematch provision to get the deal done, we would go along with it.”
Arum was also less than impressed by Deontay Wilder’s outlandish claims that Fury loaded his gloves and former trainer Mark Breland spiked his water in his rematch with the Gypsy King in February.
Despite his seven-round submission against Fury nine months ago, Wilder has clung on to a contracted trilogy fight with the WBC champion that, from Arum’s side, expired during Covid-19 enforced delays and the Bronze Bomber’s painfully slow recovery from a bicep injury.
“People say crazy things in boxing,” insisted Arum. “Fury is out of a contract, doesn’t have to fight Wilder. That contract is over. If after the Anthony Joshua fights, if they occur, Fury wants to give Wilder a fight, that’s okay.
“But again, who wants to deal with Wilder? A guy saying all of these things and then he follows up the next day saying that he also believes that somebody drugged his water and blames his trainer Mark Breland for doing it? I mean isn’t that preposterous?”