IT’S easy to despair of heavyweight boxing right now. Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury aren’t fighting each other. After Oleksandr Usyk suffered an injury, we’ll have to wait even for his heavyweight debut.
But hope springs eternal and Frank Warren, who co-promotes Fury with Top Rank, is optimistic. When it comes to Fury, Joshua and Wilder, Warren maintains those fights will happen. “They’re not going to happen this year obviously but they’ll have to happen. They’ll have to happen. The public will not stand for it. They’ll all reach a level and at that level if they want to take their careers on and their earning capacities on, they’ll have to challenge each other,” the promoter explained.
He sees Fury having two or three fights in the USA before returning to Britain for a contest. “ESPN have put a lot of resources behind him financially and their network behind him to build his profile in the States. His profile, if he does what he’s supposed to do he’ll have a bigger profile than all of them. That will increase his value and they’re looking to build their pay per view platform out there, which they will do. It’s to the benefit of him and all the other boxers regarding pay-per-view fights. It’s yet another big market,” Warren said. “[Tom Schwarz, his opponent is an] undefeated fighter, it’s the same as before Tyson fought Klitschko, he’s in the same position now. Tyson was 24-0 and no one gave him an earthly [chance] against Klitschko. Anything can happen in boxing. I think Tyson’s too smart for all of them but it is what is, it’s his [ESPN] debut fight and that’s where we’re at.”
He sees Fury returning to Britain for a major fight, ideally against Anthony Joshua. “I would hope that he comes back to a super-fight. I would hope that he comes back after beating Deontay [Wilder]. I hope he comes back and if that fight can be made that would be great.”
There will be other viable opponents by then, with Daniel Dubois, Nathan Gorman and Joe Joyce looking to push forward. “That’s what these guys are all about, it’s the next level,” Warren said. “They’re the three best fighters at that level in the world and by the time he does come back one of them may even be a mandatory challenger by then.”
