For rematch

Los Angeles: The World Boxing Council gave the goahead on Friday for a “direct rematch” between their heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury, who battled to a draw in Los Angeles last Saturday. “Wilder and Fury gave boxing one of the best fights in the heavyweight division in a long time, which has created tremendous popular demand for the fans to see a rematch,” the WBC said in a statement, adding that it had conducted voting through the board of governors “which resulted in unanimous agreement” to sanction the rematch. Wilder ( 40- 0- 1, 39 knockouts) retained his WBC belt after a thrilling 12- round battle ended in a split decision draw. Many thought Fury ( 27- 0- 1, 19 KOs) did enough to win despite being knocked down twice.