Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury 2 might just take a little while longer to become a reality.
According to reports from ESPN, Mike Coppinger and Kevin Iole, Top Rank has notified the WBC that Fury will be looking for an interim fight before moving forward with the rematch against Wilder. The WBC would go on to confirm those reports in the tweet below.
BREAKING NEWS: @BronzeBomber vs @Tyson_Fury is officially not happening next. The @WBCBoxing has received communications as our process and while Wilder confirmed its willingness to fight the rematch, Fury will take on another fight with expectations to do rematch at a later date pic.twitter.com/vCkXwsQqCd
— World Boxing Council (@WBCBoxing) February 26, 2019
The news comes after Fury signed a co-promotional deal with Top Rank and ESPN that would have Fury fight in the United States at least twice per year. The reason for Fury not fighting Wilder next is that he wants a fight either in May or June so that he can build his profile in the United States more before the title rematch in the fall.
The announcement of Fury's new deal was a roadblock to getting the fight done as ESPN and Showtime were essentially now competing for the rights to air the rematch for the WBC heavyweight title. The first fight between the two, which took place last December and ended in a draw, aired on Showtime pay-per-view and it was initially thought that the rematch would be handled by Showtime as well.
The WBC ordered a rematch and even delayed a purse bid twice as the organization was under the impression that a deal was imminent, but now the fight is not happening until much later this year at the very least.
