After an arbitration ruling that halted the negotiations between Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) and Anthony Joshua, Fury and Deontay Wilder have verbally agreed to terms on a third fight, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN.
The fight is tentatively scheduled for July 24, with a site in Las Vegas to be determined, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. An alternate date targeted for the fight is Aug. 14, ESPN’s Mark Kriegel reported earlier Thursday.
Top Rank’s Bob Arum told ESPN he expects the contracts to be signed in the coming days. Purses are split 60-40 in Fury’s favor for this trilogy fight, according to Kriegel.
This week, an arbitrator ruled that Fury was contractually obligated to give Wilder a rematch. After the two men fought to a draw in 2018, Fury picked up a seventh-round TKO victory to win the WBC heavyweight title in February 2020.
After the arbitrator’s ruling, Arum indicated that the plan was to fight Wilder instead of paying him a step-aside fee to maintain the idea of a future bout against Joshua for the undisputed heavyweight title.
“I’ll smoke Wilder first then you will get yours [as well],” Fury tweeted at Joshua on Tuesday.
Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) holds three of the four major belts in the division. Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, said in a recent video statement that Oleksandr Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs), the mandatory challenger for Joshua’s WBO belt, could be Joshua’s next opponent if Fury is unavailable. This week, Usyk requested the WBO enforce his right to face Joshua.
Neither Wilder nor Fury has fought since their bout last year.
Wilder’s manager Shelly Finkel declined comment.
ESPN’s Mark Kriegel contributed to this report.
Source:ESPN
