Before Tyson Fury can think about a potential rematch against Deontay Wilder, he will have to go through one more unbeaten European heavyweight.
The former unified world champion will return to the ring on September 14 to take on Otto Wallin. The fight, Fury's second since signing a promotional deal with Top Rank Boxing, will headline a Top Rank on ESPN+ broadcast from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Fury had been looking at a number of American heavyweights for his next fight, including Jarrell Miller, Charles Martin and Trevor Bryan, but those fights never materialized. Fury last fought in June when he defeated Tom Schwarz by second-round TKO in Las Vegas.
The unbeaten Fury has been looking to build up his profile in the United States since last year when he first fought Wilder for the WBC heavyweight title. The fight ended in a split draw and a rematch seemed imminent until Fury went with Top Rank. Although a rematch isn't set in stone, the plan is to have both Wilder and Fury win their next respective fights before fighting in early 2019, but that is far from a guarantee.
The fight is a massive step-up in competition for Wallin, who hasn’t seen action past the first round in a fight since April 2018 when he captured the EBU European Union heavyweight title. Since that fight, Wallin signed with promoter Dmitry Salita and his first bout under the deal, Wallin’s first in the United States, ended in a no contest when Nick Kisner was unable to continue fighting due to a cut.
Wallin, who is also ranked No. 4 by the WBA and No. 11 by the IBF, was supposed to fight BJ Flores on July 12 in Tacoma, Washington on a Showtime-televised card. The fight was scrapped hours before Showtime went on the air after Flores was not medically cleared by the Washington State Department of Licensing.
