LAS VEGAS – The rematch left no doubt. Tyson Fury knocked out the questions and Deontay Wilder. Fury is the better heavyweight, perhaps the best in the world.
Fury finished the debate.
But not the business. Not yet, anyway.
There’s always more money to be made and it looks as if the potential for a lot more was left on the table in the wake of Fury’s stunning seventh-round stoppage of Wilder on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Wilder, proven to be the one-trick pony that Fury said he was, had no options within the ropes. But he still has one outside of them. He can opt for a third fight.
“I’m pretty sure we’re going to do it again,’’ Fury said at a post-fight news conference.
Fury couldn’t be certain. Wilder wasn’t there. Instead, he was reported to be at a nearby hospital, undergoing treatment for bleeding from his left ear. There probably wasn’t much that could be done for his fractured ego or the damage to his career. Only time can do that. But he has 30 days to exercise a contract option for a third fight.
“Certainly, I think they’ll probably want it,’’ Wilder trainer Jay Deas said. “We’ll want it.’’
From the financial side of the ledger, there were reasons for a third go-round. The sold-out crowd generated a live gate of $16, 916,4440, a Nevada box office record for a heavyweight title fight, surpassing the $16.88 million gate for the 1999 Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield rematch at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center.
The gate was a sign that the pay-per-view numbers will be big enough to do it all over again. According to Fury promoter Bob Arum, Fury and Wilder could collect more than $40 million each if the pay-per-view buys hit the 2 million mark.
Both were already guaranteed $25 million-to-$28 million, according to multiple sources with each promotional entity. Fury is with Top Rank and Wilder with Premier Boxing Champions.
Fury probably can get that kind of money in an all-British showdown with Anthony Joshua. For Wilder, however, the only option is the third leg in a trilogy. It’s his call
“Deontay will take the time, but you’ll see these guys in the ring again,” Wilder manager Shelly Finkel said.
It was no surprise that Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn was already lobbying for Fury to fight Joshua next.
“No need for a third let’s go straight to it in the Summer!” Hearn said in a tweet.
For now, the question appears to be more when than if a third fight will happen. The extent of Wilder’s injuries was not immediately clear. Bleeding from his ear affected his equilibrium, Deas said. He was knocked down twice, once in the third round and again in the fifth. He also slipped at least twice during a bout in which he landed his feared right hand only a couple times in the early moments.
In the fight’s immediate aftermath, he complained about a leg injury. But he wasn’t specific about the nature of the injury or how it affected him.
Trouble in his corner is also possible. Co-trainer Mark Breland threw in the towel at 1:39 of the seventh round. That angered Wilder.
“The best man won tonight, but my corner threw in the towel, and I was ready to go out on my shield,’’ Wilder said before leaving the arena. ‘I just wish my corner would have let me go out on my shield, I’m a warrior. But he (Fury) did what he did and there’s no excuses.’’
As he returned to his corner, Wilder can be heard on the telecast asking: “Why did you do that?’’
Deas said he asked Breland not to throw the towel.
“I told him: ‘Don’t do that,’’’ Deas said. “I didn’t think he should do that. Then the fight went on a little bit longer and then I saw the towel go in, so I haven’t talked to Mark about it.
“But we’ll talk about it and figure out what exactly happened there.’’