By: Sean Crose
“One fight goes bye bye for a while and another fight is taking its place.” So says Bob Arum, Top Rank honcho and promoter of Tyson Fury, in a Thursday interview with iFL TV. Arum is referring Saturday’s fight between Jose Ramirez and Josh Taylor for the undisputed super lightweight championship of the world. The bout is a major event for the sport of boxing, but it’s being placed second fiddle in the media behind this week’s shocking news that an arbitrator ruled Fury must face Deontay Wilder in the ring for a third time by September. The decision has effectively crushed a highly anticipated fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world between Fury and Anthony Joshua.
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose,” Arum says in the interview. Still, he indicates genuine surprise at how things have turned out. “I couldn’t conceive of any way you can lose that case,” he says. “I still can’t.” Now Arum is making it clear that he’s moving forward to have Fury face Wilder for the third time. “Nothing will convince me that the decision is correct,” he says of the arbitration, “but it’s a decision made by a competent judge/arbiter. As people who believe in the law we will honor that decision.”
There are those who argue that Arum might be happy with how the arbitration worked out, as he seemingly had little to do in the past months with the massive work that went into nearly making the Fury-Joshua fight a reality. Arum, however, isn’t indicating as much, at least not openly. What he is quick to speak of is Fury-Wilder III. “July 24th, Las Vegas,” he says of the date and location. “We are now talking to the people at Allegiance Stadium…we’ll figure out jointly by the end of the week which venue we’ll be using.”
Fury first met Wilder in 2018. The Englishman was winning the fight, but a thunderous knockdown of Fury – which Fury somehow rose from – led to the fight ending in a draw. The second fight presented a far different scenario, with Fury dominating the bout before Wilder’s corner stopped the proceedings in round seven. “I think Tyson knocks him out quicker this time than he did last time,” Arum says of the upcoming third match between the two.
Although he says he wants to make a Fury-Joshua match later this year, Arum indicates in the interview he feels Joshua might not get past his presumed next opponent, former cruiserweight king Oleksandr Usyk. “I think Joshua has his hands full with Usyk,” says Arum. “I give Usyk a hell of a chance to upset Joshua with that fight.”
“Hopefully,” he says, “Tyson comes through and we can do the unification fight November, December of this year.”
