Tag: Fury-Wilder II

Bob Arum to explore staging Fury-Wilder III at new stadium in Las Vegas

Promoter Bob Arum told TalkBox Podcast that he would explore the possibility of staging Fury-Wilder III at the new Allegiant Stadium.

Promoter Bob Arum believes a third fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder would be big. NFL big.

Arum said on the Everlast TalkBox podcast that should Wilder give the green light for another go at Fury, he would look to stage it at the new home of the Las Vegas Raiders, the still-under-construction, $1.9 billion Allegiant Stadium. It is scheduled to be completed by July 31.

“If Deontay Wilder wants a rematch, it’s a big, big fight,” Arum said. “We would look at the new Raiders Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to host its first boxing match ever. It’s all good. But everybody … all the promoters, whether it’s Al Haymon or myself … we’re hopefully going to be cooperative here and not blow the moment that boxing has clawed its way back to the mainstream.”

Fury-Wilder II, which ended with Fury scoring a seventh-round knockout of Wilder, took place at the MGM Grand Garden, the home for most big-ticket fights in the gambling capital. It seats only around 17,000, however, which a third fight may outgrow. Allegiant Stadium, on the other hand, will have a seating capacity of 65,000, along with state-of-the-art technology, including retractable windows and a translucent roof meant to offer an expansive view of the Las Vegas terrain.

Of course, Wilder would have to exercise his contractual right to a third fight. He has told multiple outlets in the past few days that he has every intention of doing so.

If not, Arum believes there’s another viable fight out there for Fury: A full unification with British compatriot Anthony Joshua. Joshua is slated to take on mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev, a fight that Top Rank will co-promote, in June. Nevertheless, Arum said he can pull a few strings to make what would easily be the biggest all-British heavyweight fight ever.

“If Wilder decides to delay the fight, I know we can talk to Pulev to step aside — he’s the mandatory for Joshua — and have Joshua fight Fury, which is the fight that is first place of what you want to see in the heavyweight division.”

But Arum added, “That’s all theoretical.”

Kubrat Pulev reportedly deported en route to Fury-Wilder fight

Kubrat Pulev was just trying to make it to the Wilder-Fury II card when he was deported to Bulgaria by US immigration officials.

While two top heavyweights were busy duking it out Saturday night inside the ring, one contender found himself in the throes of the U.S. immigration system.

Kubrat Pulev, a longtime contender, was deported to his home country of Bulgaria after trying to board a flight from Chicago to Las Vegas to attend the rematch between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, which ended with Fury stopping Wilder in stunning fashion in the seventh round.

The Athletic first reported the news.

It’s not clear why Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs) was deported but it likely means he won’t be setting up training camp in the U.S. anytime soon. The Bulgarian, the mandatory challenger for one of Anthony Joshua’s titles, is tentatively slated to take on British star in June. The fight is expected to take place at either Wembley Stadium or the newly built Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

This is not the first time Pulev has made negative headlines. The boxer came under fire for kissing a female reporter without consent last summer.

DAZN among suitors interested in buying Top Rank

Bob Arum, the founder and CEO of Top Rank, is serious about selling his company to the highest bidder. Potential suitors include DAZN.

Bob Arum, the founder and CEO of Top Rank, is listening to offers from those interested in buying his storied company. And potential suitors have lined up around the block.

Arum, 88, told Business Insider recently that he has had discussions with at least three entities about selling his promotional firm: Endeavor, Liberty Global and DAZN.

“Endeavor, here we are,” Arum said. “We’re talking to Endeavor. We’re talking to Liberty Global. We’re talking to DAZN. I met with [DAZN owner] Leonard Blavatnik last week. We’ll see. Maybe we don’t sell.”

DAZN, of course, is the sports streaming platform best known in boxing circles for showcasing stars Canelo Alvarez, Gennadiy Golovkin and Anthony Joshua, among others.

Endeavor is one of the premier talent agencies in the world. In addition to representing stars from across the entertainment spectrum, the company owns the Mixed Martial Arts behemoth UFC, which it bought for $4.025 billion.

And Liberty Global is a telecommunications giant that owns the British cable company Virgin Media.

Arum envisions remaining with the company even after a sale, as Dana White did with UFC. “Anything is for sale if I can stay alive in the business,” Arum said.

Founded in 1973, Top Rank has promoted some of the greatest fighters in the sport, such as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman, Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao. The company currently promotes elite talents Vasiliy Lomachenko, Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue and Tyson Fury, who faces Deontay Wilder on pay-per-view in a highly anticipated rematch Saturday in Las Vegas.

Included in the potential sale would be fighters under contract with Top Rank, mortgage-free Las Vegas real estate and a film library of more than 10,000 Top Rank-promoted fights.

It’s not clear what Top Rank is worth. According to Business Insider, Arum said that his company represents the “biggest combat sports asset” in the market since the UFC sale.

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Tyson Fury reminds Deontay Wilder: ‘I got up’

Deontay Wilder promises Tyson Fury that we will not get up from the canvas the next time they meet inside the ring on Feb 22.

LOS ANGELES – Deontay Wilder’s chant sounds like an alarm.

“Bomb Squad,” he shouts at an almost concussive volume that forces just about anybody within the scream zone to cover their ears or look for shelter.

Yet, Tyson Fury, a singer when he’s not boxing or wrestling, just smiles. He’s not alarmed. He’s heard the scream. He’s seen the bomb. He even got up from the bomb, or at least the physical manifestation of it. It landed, along with a left hand, on Dec. 1 in the final moments of their first fight more than 13 months ago.

That makes Fury a survivor, a lone exception, yet proof, perhaps, that Wilder’s right is not quite as lethal as he and his long list of KO victims – 40 in 42 fights – might think. It’s no coincidence that Fury is using that moment, reminding Wilder of it again and again as their Feb. 22 rematch approaches at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand in a Fox/ESPN+ pay-per-view bout.

Fury reminded Wilder of that moment, taunting him about as often as Wilder broke into his trademark chant, during repeated face-to-face poses at a news conference Monday.

“Yeah, I told him I got up with my heart and balls,’’ Fury said in a tone that promised a lot more of both would be there for the rematch.

For the clever Fury, it represented an opening salvo in the psychological byplay expected to unfold over the next few weeks. No skillset is world class without a mastery of head games.

“I’m already living in his head,’’ Fury said.

Wilder, of course, laughs at that, screams Bomb Squad and promises to rip off Fury’s head.

In the first fight, Wilder said he gave Fury a baptism, which is an initiation. It’s a new beginning.

“Rising up is part of baptism,’’ Wilder said.  “But this a different story. This is unfinished business.’’

Further business, Wilder says, that will end with no improbable rise from the canvas. There’s no counter for his power, he says.

“When you’re facing power there’s no way around it,” Wilder said. “You can’t prepare for that. You just have to hope that when it lands, it doesn’t do that much damage. He doesn’t even know how he got on the ground or how he got up in the first fight. He’s been dealing with that feeling ever since the end of the first fight’’

Fury might not remember how he landed. But the confidence he gained in getting up might be a seed for some doubt in Wilder, who is defined by a right with a dimension as singular as it is powerful.

Fury will try to plant it and Wilder will try to knock it out. Have no doubt about it.

Tyson Fury at 400 pounds serves as cautionary tale

Tyson Fury took a moment to recall when he was walking around at 400 pounds, suicidal and depressed, by posting an image on social media.

Tyson Fury remembers when he was the 400-pound elephant in the room.

As he prepares to face off against Deontay Wilder on Feb. 22, the Manchester heavyweight took a moment on social media to remember when he was at rock-bottom, posting a photo depicting him at the absolute nadir of his life – 150 pounds overweight, depressed and utterly lost

He used his misfortune as a cautionary tale.

“When someone says you can’t do something,” Fury wrote, “look at this and remember anything is possible. This is me at over 400lb.”

Grainy though the image is, the rolls of fat around Fury’s midsection are unmistakable, a reminder of the strenuous rehabilitation that he endured over the past couple of years to whip himself back into title contention.

Again, it didn’t look so good for Fury.

After upsetting then-unified heavyweight titleholder Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, Fury fell apart at the seams, unable to handle his newly-wrought fame. His career, or rather his life, quickly descended into a dark morass of cocaine and alcohol binges. It got so bad, he claims, that one night while on the road he tried to take his own life.

Now all that’s in the past, presumably, as Fury has scripted a remarkable turnaround, highlighted by his disputed draw with Wilder in their first fight, in 2018. Fury provided the fight’s most-memorable moment when he came back from a devastating right hand-left hook combination that put him flat on his back. Fury not only beat the count, but he roared back to put Wilder on his backfoot. 

The rematch, a joint pay-per-view effort between Fox and ESPN that will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, figures to be one of the most intriguing bouts of the early 2020 schedule. 

Frank Warren comfortable with Tyson Fury’s change of trainers

Promoter Frank Warren said he’s fully confident Tyson Fury “knows what he’s doing in bringing in Javan SugarHill Steward.”

A new trainer is sometimes interpreted as a sign of uncertainty, if not turmoil, but Tyson Fury promoter Frank Warren is comfortable with Fury’s decision to fire Ben Davison and hire SugarHill Steward before the heavyweight rematch with Deontay Wilder on Feb. 22.

No worries, Warren says

“I know there is some concern about Fury changing trainers ahead of such a colossal clash,’’ Warren told The Mirror, a U.K. publication.  “I’m certainly sad to see him split with Ben Davison because the pair were great together.

“But when Fury appointed Davison as the man to help him get back to the top many questioned him using such a young trainer. How wrong they were.’’

Davison was a key in helping Fury fight his way back into the championship mix after he slipped into a lifestyle that included more drugging, drinking and dining than training. Fury was reportedly about 400 pounds about a year before his controversial draw with Wilder on Dec. 1, 2018 at Los Angeles’ Staples Center.

But a difficult decision over then-unknown Otto Wallin on Sept. 14 in Las Vegas generated widespread criticism of Davison in a fight that left Fury badly bloodied. On Dec. 15, Davison was fired and Steward was hired.

Fury, who says he is already in camp for the rematch, said he made the move because he had grown “stale.’’ He said he already had a relationship with Steward, the former Javan Hill and a nephew of the late Hall of Famer Emanuel Steward.

“I am fully confident he knows what he’s doing in bringing in Javan SugarHill Steward to take the corner for the Wilder rematch,’’ Warren said. “Few fighters know what’s best for them (more) than Fury and he will not have made the decision lightly.”

Frank Warren says there will be a Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder III

Whatever the outcome for the Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder rematch on February 22, there will be a third fight, according to Frank Warren.

Whatever happens in the Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury rematch Feb. 22 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, you can count on a third fight.

So says Frank Warren, the co-promoter of Fury. He told the British outlet talkSPORT that the heavyweight rivals have already agreed to fight again in the summer.

“Tyson is going to be back in the ring with Wilder on February 22,” Warren said. “And they will fight again, irrespective of who wins, in the summer.

“So that, at the moment, is all tied up.”

The Feb. 22 rematch – on pay-per-view – will be a bi-partisan effort between rival companies Top Rank (which promotes Fury) and partner ESPN, and Premier Boxing Champions (Wilder) and Fox. Both networks are planning to market the fight heavily through their Super Bowl coverage.

The first fight took place on Dec. 1 of last year at Staples Center in Los Angeles and ended in a disputed draw. Although Wilder scored two knockdowns, many observers believed Fury had outboxed the hard-hitting Alabaman.