Will Fury-Wilder III do well at the Box Office?
We are little more than a month away from part three of the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder trilogy. The bout is set to take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday 9 October, which will be in the early hours of Sunday morning here in the United Kingdom.
Tyson Fury has gone into each bout as the bookmakers’ favourite, though his odds were not as convincing as many were expecting for the previous meeting, so many boxing fans were able to take up of the BetVictor sign up offer before the fight started.
The first bout took place all the way back on 1 December 2018 at LA, California, which ended in a controversial draw. In reality, Fury dominated the fight, with fans in attendance and at home, commentators and even the reaction of Wilder after round 12, all suggesting the Brit was going to have his hand raised.
Instead, to a chorus of boos from more than 17,000 fans at the Staples Center, a draw was announced. It wasn’t the first time in boxing history that an American had been favoured by the three judges.
The result meant Deontay Wilder kept his WBC Heavyweight belt and setup a rematch. That took place on 22 February 2020 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Nevada. Fury didn’t leave anything to chance in this fight, smashing Wilder from pillar to post, winning by TKO as early as the seventh round.
Despite essentially dominating the American in both fights, the score is technically 1 win and 1 draw in Fury’s favour. A clause in their contract ahead of the second match allowed for either party to have a third bout.
With Wilder’s career now past its peak, with the 35-year-old being shown up for relying on a knockout punch throughout his career rather than having any skill in the ring, he activated the clause for one final payday.
Unfortunately, British boxing fans and many more from across the world were hoping the new WBC Heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, would get in the ring with Anthony Joshua this year. Wilder’s greed has prevented that from happening.
Americans still have faith in their competitor ahead of next month’s match, with the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas expected to be at full capacity. But will pay-per-view numbers live up to the previous shows? We don’t think they’ll come close. Part 1 only sold 325,000 itself but part 2 was reported as high as 850,000.
The winner of part III will face Anthony Joshua in a huge unification match next year. Finally, we can look forward to a Joshua-Fury bout…