Tyson Fury's ESPN+ debut has been announced and is set to take place this summer.
During a Top Rank on ESPN broadcast from California, it was announced that Fury, the current lineal heavyweight champion, is set to face off against undefeated German heavyweight Tom Schwarz. The fight will take place on June 15 and will headline an ESPN+ card.
The fight will take place in Las Vegas, but no venue was announced. The likeliest place the fight will be hosted in is the Thomas and Mack Center since the venue is reserved for that date. The Nevada State Athletic Commission has yet to rule on whether or not the venue will be approved and there is always a possibility that the event will be on another venue that isn't the one that is being reserved.
Fury joined Top Rank Boxing on a multi-year, co-promotional deal alongside British promoter Frank Warren. Fury is coming off a draw against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder last December on pay-per-view and a rematch was expected to take place.
Negotiations fell through almost immediately, however, after Fury signed with Top Rank and ESPN as Top Rank wanted both men to take interim fights on ESPN platforms before proceeding with a pay-per-view rematch later this fall. Wilder rejected Top Rank's offer and instead went to Showtime for his next fight, which is a title defense against Dominic Breazeale in Brooklyn, New York on May 18.
On the subject of a potential rematch between Wilder and Fury, Top Rank CEO and long-time promoter Bob Arum spoke with World Boxing News recently to discuss what's the plan to making that a reality. While a rematch is highly unlikely to take place in 2019 now, Arum did say that with two fights from Fury on ESPN platforms for the remainder of the year, he is hoping to make the highly-anticipated rematch for February 2020.
