Live in Las Vegas at Fury-Wilder 3

And assorted other boxing notes

LAS VEGAS — I flew here on Wednesday morning to cover the third Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder heavyweight championship fight for Ring magazine and I am excited.

I covered their first two fights, which played out in vastly different ways from each other, and the third fight, with so much at stake, should be another big night at T-Mobile Arena, where I think I have covered every boxing event in its history.

Since the start of the pandemic, this will be just the third event I’ve covered, but they’ve all been big ones. The others were Canelo Alvarez-Billy Joe Saunders in Arlington, Texas, in May and Manny Pacquiao-Yordenis Ugas in August. And I will be back in Las Vegas twice in November for Alvarez-Caleb Plant and Terence Crawford-Shawn Porter.

It was nice to see many of the Top  Rank folks when I arrived on Wednesday after having not seen any of them since covering Wilder-Fury II in February 2020. I think Top Rank chairman Bob Arum was happy to see me. LOL.  

Here is what I’ve written so far:

Fury-Wilder 3: The Gypsy King reviews The Bronze Bomber’s never-ending excuses: https://www.ringtv.com/628216-fury-wilder-3-the-gypsy-king-reviews-the-bronze-bombers-never-ending-excuses/

Call for a face-off at end of contentious news conference infuriates Arum: https://ringtv.com/628203-fury-wilder-3-face-off-request-infuriates-bob-arum/

Fury-Wilder 3 notebook: WBC ruling, officials selected, broadcast team unveiled: https://www.ringtv.com/628211-fury-wilder-3-notebook-wbc-ruling-selected-officials-and-broadcast-team/

Wilder claims to be rejuvenated and reinvented ahead of Fury trilogy bout: https://www.ringtv.com/628145-deontay-wilder-claims-to-be-rejuvenated-and-reinvented-ahead-of-tyson-fury-trilogy-bout/

Triller defaults

The IBF on Wednesday ruled that Triller is in default of it’s Feb. 25 purse bid for the long-delayed fight between unified lightweight world champion Teofimo Lopez and IBF mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr., bringing to an end its involvement in the fight that it won the rights to in shocking fashion.

Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, the under bidder, now plans to fight on under the terms of his purse bid.

I obtained the letter sent from the IBF to Triller’s lawyer and copied to others involved and wrote the details of what happened for World Boxing News. Please read that story here: https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2021/10/06/lopez-vs-kambosos-ibf-matchroom/

Wood-Conlan in works

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said when he spoke to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn on Wednesday about his plans for the Teofimo Lopez-George Kambosos fight he inherited the rights to when the IBF declared Triller in default of its winning purse bid, the also spoke about the fight between Hearn-promoted WBA secondary featherweight titlist Leigh Wood (25-2, 15 KOs) and mandatory challenger Michael Conlan (16-0, 8 KOs), one of the interim titleholders who was recently stripped when the WBA terminated all interim titles in an effort to finally reduce the number of belts it sanctions.

A purse bid is scheduled for Monday to determine the promotional rights to the fight, but Arum told Fight Freaks Unite he and Hearn will ask the WBA for an extension since they are close to a deal.

Arum said he and Hearn have discussed, as one possibility, doing the fight on St. Patrick’s Day in March in New York, where Conlan, who is from Northern Ireland, is a popular draw.

Conlan outpointed TJ Doheny to claim the vacant interim belt on Aug. 6 and was subsequently stripped and made the mandatory. England’s Wood stopped China’s Xu Can in the 12th round of an upset to claim the belt on July 31 in Brentwood, England.

New Zealand appearance

I joined my friends at SENZ in New Zealand on their “Rumble on the Radio” program to preview Fury-Wilder III. We also discussed New Zealand’s No. 1 fighter, former heavyweight titlist Joseph Parker. Please give it a listen here: https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode/912415

Quick hits

Top Rank, which recently won a WBC purse bid to promote the fight between unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (16-0, 16 KOs) and mandatory challenger Marcus Browne (24-1, 16 KOs), still has until Oct. 13 to inform the WBC of the site and date and until Oct. 18 to return signed contracts from the fighters. However, Top Rank, according to a source with knowledge of the plans, is aiming to stage the bout on Dec. 17 in Russia native Beterbiev’s adopted hometown of Montreal or Quebec City. The fight would air on an ESPN platform. Top Rank, Beterbiev’s promoter, bid $1,105,000 to beat the only other offer of $1,001,000 from TGB Promotions, which represented Browne.

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Promising Florida heavyweight Brandon Moore (10-0, 6 KOs), 27, has signed a co-managerial deal with Keith Connolly to co-manage him with Ryan Rickey and also became the latest fighter to sign with upstart promoter Probellum, which is run by president Richard Schaefer, the former Golden Boy CEO. Moore’s signing, which was announced Wednesday, comes after previous signings of former junior welterweight titlist Regis Prograis, former light heavyweight and super middleweight titlist Badou Jack and welterweight contender Eimantis Stanionis. The Moore, a 6-foot-6 southpaw, has spent time training in Deontay Wilder’s camp.

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Puerto Rican amateur featherweight standout Jan Paul Rivera, 20, has signed with manager Tim VanNewhouse, they announced. Before having a pro fight, Rivera will compete in the AIBA World Championships, which begin October 24 in Serbia. Rivera is 180-23 as an amateur and is a two-time Puerto Rico Elite National Champion. He also won the Puerto Rico Youth National Championships in 2018 and 2019 and has competed internationally.

Show and tell

I wrote most of the program for Fury-Wilder III, which was produced by my longtime friend Jay Seidman of Seidman Productions, which also produced the program for the first and second fight. I’ll pick up some programs from Saturday’s fight from Jay before I head home but here is what it looks like.

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