Smackdown!
FURY v WILDER UNDER THREAT FROM €13.5M WRESTLING DEAL
TYSON FURY’S rematch of his epic world heavyweight title draw with Deontay Wilder is in serious doubt as he banks €13.5million for his WWE debut in Saudi Arabia this month, with the prospect of even more for a second wrestling extravaganza in the new year.
Fury-Wilder II is scheduled for Las Vegas on February 22 but now the worry as to whether the Gypsy King’s gashed eye will heal in time is not the only question mark.
Asked if his wrestling match with Braun Strowman on October 31 could impact the Wilder fight, Fury replied: ‘There’s a hell of a chance of that.’
Wrestling legend Brock Lesnar and former UFC champion Cain Velasquez meet on the same card in Riyadh. There is now talk of Fury facing the winner.
If so, his combined purses from two WWE fights would come close to the $50m he stands to accumulate from what I now understand to be not one but two contracted rematches with Wilder — February in Vegas and Wembley next summer.
Wilder, who has a rematch against Luis Ortiz on November 23, will not be surprised if Fury pulls out of their engagement. The second fight was delayed from this summer when Fury signed an $80m (£63m) US TV contract with ESPN which included two warm-up fights in America.
If the Fury-Wilder return does fall by the wayside, the Bronze Bomber will seek to meet the winner of Anthony Joshua’s December rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr, also in Riyadh, to find the first undisputed world heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis.
A suspicion that Ruiz may have ‘lost focus’ during his celebration of becoming Mexico’s first world heavyweight champion has been dispelled by the publication of training camp pictures showing him dramatically trimmed down.
Frank Warren, Fury’s promoter, said he disapproves of his client’s move into WWE: ‘I’m not in favour of this. It does put the Wilder fight in jeopardy.’