John Fury is concerned about his son Tyson Fury’s motivation levels for his trilogy bout with Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas on July 24.
WBC and Lineal champion Tyson was, of course, on the brink of a money-spinning, undisputed title clash with rival WBA Super, WBO and IBF champion Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia on August 14 before Wilder won an arbitration case to enforce a previously contracted third fight with Fury.
The ‘Gypsy King’ had thoroughly dominated Wilder in a seven-round beatdown in February 2020, having drawn their first meeting in December 2018, but a contracted third bout had been delayed by Covid-19 and a bicep injury to Wilder. Team Fury thought the contract had expired, but judge Daniel Weinstein ruled it was still binding.
Father John has been alarmed at the speed at which Fury-Wilder III suddenly fell into place following months of talks to make the dream fight with Joshua a reality.
“Anything rushed is no good and that’s been rushed. He was fighting AJ; I wanted him to fight AJ – I had no interest in Deontay Wilder. I told him in a phone conversation to chuck the [WBC] belt in the bin, let [Wilder] have it and fight AJ on August 14 as was planned,” John Fury told BT Sport.
“I’m concerned whether Tyson can raise his game for Wilder. Whether he gets complacent, makes a mistake. It’s got a good chance of going wrong out there. The danger point is getting fair play out there. At the minute, the American boxing fraternity has been embarrassed from the last escapade.
“Why wouldn’t you [Wilder] take a $20 million step-aside without fighting and a guaranteed shot at the winner, when you’re fighting for a lot less money and you’re risking getting your skull caved in again. It doesn’t make sense, so obviously the powers that be in America are involved, they’re calling the shots and trapped them both.
“Both men could get beat. AJ could get beat and so could Tyson, because both men could get complacent, thinking about the other and all of a sudden you’re doing something else. They’re geared up to fight, the biggest fight in history. Now we have two warm-up fights in between.”