Looks like there will be a huge heavyweight superfight this year after all. A deal is being finalized for WBC world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder to face lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in November/December, on SHOWTIME PPV in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Fury confirmed the reports during today’s media workout as he winds down preparation for his August 18th bout versus Francesco Pianeta at Windsor Park in Belfast, Ireland.
“It’s 99 percent done as far as I’m concerned,” explained Fury to Sky Sports.
“There’s been no arguments over money, splits or promoters. It’s how real men do it, we do the business, straight to it, no messing around, no hiding from the big fights.
“If you’re good enough you’re good enough, and if you’re not, forget about it, go home.”
Wilder, 32, 40-0 (39 KOs), echoed those sentiments.
“I believe 100 percent that this fight is going to happen and it’s going to get done,” he said. “We’re very, very close. Very, very close. Closer than Joshua and me could ever get in a lifetime. It’s definitely gonna happen, there’s no doubt. There’s just a little more work to be done.
“Me and Fury, we talked with each other back and forth; I think he’s a great guy, we have a relationship together, and my team has a relationship with his team.
“This is going to be better than Joshua when it all boils down to it … and we know Tyson Fury, in many eyes, is still the champ, he hasn’t been defeated. He’s still undefeated. He’s still the lineal champion. Once I knock him off, I become that man who beat the man.”
The 6’9″ Fury, 29, (26-0, 19 KOs), won the lineal championship when he scored a massive upset decision victory over Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015. But he never defended the three titles he picked up. Instead, Fury battled depression and cocaine addiction and ballooned to around 350 pounds.
He has since proclaimed himself sober and healthy, and he returned with a fourth-round stoppage of Sefer Seferi in June. On August 18, Fury will knock some more rust off with a bout against journeyman Pianeta.
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren told the BBC: “We are close to making this happen. Is it too soon? The next fight will give us the answer. The way Tyson is looking in the gym, he’s lost another couple of stone. He’s very focused.”
“I’m super excited, I can’t wait for this thing to be official and we can get the promotion going and get the fans riled up for it,” said Wilder, who hails from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. “I feel he’s going to be back into his top form, he’s in shape, he’s slimmed down, he’s been a champion before, he knows what it takes to be a champion, to adjust to other fighters.
“Once you’re a champion, there ain’t no excuses. You’re staying ready 24 hours and if you’re not ready that’s your fault. And that’s what I’m all about.
“He’s a guy that’s ready to go, he’s seen what’s been happening to me with this whole situation, and he’s disgusted because Joshua is British as well, and they see he didn’t want to fight. So he’s being a man, stepping into my backyard and doing something their other so-called champion wouldn’t do, so mad respect from me.”
