Tyson Fury suggests date he could rematch Wilder and reveals the WBC champ's next opponents
Tyson Fury (27-0-1) will have to wait another year to take on Deontay Wilder (41-0-1) for a second time.
The heavyweight rivals fought to a controversial draw last December with Fury denied victory by the judges, despite many spectators believing he was leading widely on the scorecards. A 12th-round knockdown saved the American from losing his green belt to the Briton.
A rematch looked all set to take place earlier this year but talks broke down and Wilder instead faced Dominic Breazeale (20-2) in Brooklyn, with Fury taking on the unknown but highly-ranked unbeaten German Tom Schwarz (24-0) on June 15 in Vegas as part of his new deal with ESPN.Tyson, 30 from Manchester, will likely have one more fight later this year before taking on Wilder again in 2020.
"Deontay Wilder cannot run from Tyson Fury forever. The fight has to happen," Fury promised ESPN .
"This rematch has got to happen, but it won't be in May, June, July or August.
"This fight, I'm being told, is likely to happen in March or April next year."
Fury also claimed Wilder was as much to blame as he was for the rematch talks collapsing,
"We were very close to a rematch. We had contracts, they had contracts, we were trying to agree terms," he added.
"All of a sudden I had a massive deal from ESPN and they made me an offer I couldn't refuse. That would've been in May I believe.
"Deontay Wilder apparently signed a three-fight deal before I signed an ESPN deal.
"He signed a deal to fight Dominic Breazeale, Luis Ortiz and Adam Kownacki, so this was all done even before I put pen to paper."
Wilder has already defeated Cuban southpaw Ortiz back in March 2018, but he had spells of success during the contest, and unbeaten Polishman Kownacki is ranked in the top five with the WBC. However, if Dillian Whyte can overcome Oscar Rivas in his next fight, then he will be in pole position to force a fight with Wilder.
"I've got a few fights on ESPN, and hopefully I'll stick with ESPN throughout my full career." Fury continued.
"If the fighters are willing to fight then why should the networks get in the way?
"Fighters use that as an excuse, AKA Anthony Joshua, he uses that a lot as an excuse.
"But I believe if the fighters really want to fight each other they will, as I proved. I was on BT Sport and came over to United States and boxed on Showtime."