Notebook: Fury not yet ready to think about facing the Usyk-Joshua II winner

AJ activates rematch clause; Beterbiev-Browne set; more

Oct 13, 2021

In the aftermath of his instant-classic third fight with Deontay Wilder on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, one thing heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is not thinking about is his next fight.

Fury and Wilder combined for five knockdowns — Fury was down twice and Wilder three times — in Fury’s massive 11th-round knockout victory to retain the title. Afterward, when asked about the prospect of facing the winner of the rematch between unified titlist Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua next in a four-belt unification fight for the undisputed championship, Fury punted.

“We’ll see, you know? I’ve just earned a well-earned break from everything,” Fury said at his post-fight news conference. “Been away from me family for six months. I’ve been home two weeks out of the last six months. So, before I start thinking about fighting other men, I’m gonna bask in this victory, because this tonight was one of my greatest wins. I got off the floor to do it and I’m the big dog in the division. I’m probably one of the heaviest heavyweight champions in history tonight, 277 pounds. I was fit, I was strong in there and I felt good. We’ll just see what today brings and tomorrow as well.”

Fury said that despite getting dropped twice in the fourth round, he did not believe he was in danger of being stopped.

“I’ve had three fights with the biggest puncher in the history in my sport in my division and he caught me,” said Fury, who was knocked down four times overall in the trilogy and dropped Wilder five times overall in the series. “He caught me twice in the fourth round, but I was never thinking like this is over. I said, ‘OK, good shot, but I will you get back in a minute,’ and I did. I was conscious. I saw the ref go 3, 4. I was always there. He shook me, he put me down and that’s boxing. It’s life as well.

“It’s not about how many times you get put down or how many times you lose or win. It’s about how many times you can come back, keep getting back up and moving forward, like Rocky (Balboa in the movie) said. You’ve got to keep moving forward in a positive manner and keep fighting. Not just in a boxing fight, but in life in general because nothing’s ever gonna be easy.

“If you want something that’s very hard to get, you have to sacrifice and dedicate and keep pushing and never let anyone tell you you can’t, because tonight, again, I showed it’s possible to achieve anything you ever want as long as you believe it.”

While Fury was generally complimentary of the great heart Wilder showed in their slugfest, he was clearly annoyed that Wilder would not accept his handshake after the bout. There were hard feeling throughout the build-up because of the many cheating allegations Wilder made toward Fury as it related to their second fight.

“All the allegations that they made toward me throughout the buildup to this fight and we fought like two warriors in there (and) I went over to shake his hand and say, ‘Well done,’ and he was like, ‘No, I don’t respect you,’” Fury said. “I was like how can you say I’ve cheated when you know in your own heart, and your full team knows, that you got beat fair and square? He’s just a sore loser.”

Joshua invokes rematch clause

It comes as absolutely no surprise, but former unified heavyweight world titlist Anthony Joshua has formally exercised his contractual right to an immediate rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn announced.

“He’s got his head back in the game. He’s training now and today we officially triggered the rematch for the Oleksandr Usyk fight, which we’ll see early next spring,” Hearn said on DAZN during the Liam Smith-Anthony Fowler event. “So, back in the game and looking for him to become a three-time heavyweight world champion.”

There is no set date yet for the fight but early spring is the target, Hearn said.

“We’ll sit down with (Usyk promoter) K2 to plan the date,” Hearn said. “I think realistically March is when you’re likely to see the rematch.”

On Sept. 25 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in Joshua’s hometown of London, fellow 2012 Olympic gold medalist Usyk, one of his mandatory challengers, defeated Joshua by clear unanimous decision in an exciting fight and a big upset to take the belts. Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs), 34, of Ukraine, the former undisputed cruiserweight champion, won by scores of 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113.

Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs), 31, said in the aftermath that he would invoke his rematch right and now has done so, the same thing he did when he suffered his first loss, a seventh-round knockout to Andy Ruiz Jr. in June 2019. Six months later, Joshua easily outpointed Ruiz to reclaim the belts.

Beterbiev-Browne official

Top Rank on Tuesday formally announced that unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev’s mandatory defense against Marcus Browne will take place on Dec. 17 (ESPN+) at the Bell Centre in Russia native Beterbiev’s adopted hometown of Montreal.

“Artur Beterbiev has built a tremendous fan base in Montreal, and we wanted to give him the opportunity to defend his titles in his adopted hometown,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said. “Marcus Browne is a worthy mandatory challenger, a big southpaw with a high boxing IQ. But I believe Artur is the world’s premier light heavyweight and, as usual, will end the fight before the final bell.”

Beterbiev (16-0, 16 KOs), 36, a 2008 and 2012 Russian Olympian, will be making his fifth title defense. This will be Beterbiev’s first title fight in Canada and his first fight there since 2016.

“I want to thank Bob Arum and (Montreal promoter) Yvon Michel for bringing this event to Montreal,” Beterbiev said. “It’s been a dream of mine to defend my titles in front of the fans who have supported me my entire pro career. I look forward to defending my titles in dominant fashion.”

Browne (24-1, 16 KOs), 30, of Staten Island, New York, suffered his only defeat when he lost an interim belt by eighth-round technical decision to Jean Pascal in August 2019. Browne, a 2012 U.S. Olympian, has won his only fight since, a shutout 10-round decision over journeyman Denis Grachev in April.

“This is the moment in my life that I’ve been waiting for and I’m ready to take advantage of it,” Browne said. “I know exactly what I have to do to take the titles from Beterbiev and that’s what I’m going to do. Beterbiev is the most avoided champion out there. He’s a great fighter, doesn’t make a lot of mistakes and is super strong. But I’m the better fighter and I’m here to show that come Dec. 17. So, to my fans, know that I’m back and I’m here to stay. No controversial losses, no distractions, just straight work.”

Top Rank won a recent purse bid to gain promotional rights to the bout, outbidding Browne representative TGB Promotions. Top Rank offered $1,105,000 and TGB offered $1,001,000.

Quick hits

D4G Promotions, which mostly puts on its events in the Middle East, on Tuesday won an IBF purse bid to gain promotional rights to the organization’s bantamweight title elimination bout between Top Rank-promoted Jason Moloney (22-2, 18 KOs), 30, of Australia, and the Lee Eaton/MTK-promoted Lee McGregor (11-0, 9 KOs), 24, the European champion from Scotland. Their promoters did not bid and D4G won with an offer of $201,100. The winner of the bout would become a mandatory challenger for unified champion Naoya Inoue, who knocked out Moloney last October in a defense. McGregor is entitled to 60 percent of the bid ($120,600) and Moloney 40 percent ($80,400). D4G submitted 10 percent of the bid total ($20,110.00) and must submit another 10 percent by Oct. 19. Executed contracts for the bout must be submitted to the IBF by Oct. 27 and the fight must take place within 90 days (by Jan. 10).

Secondary junior flyweight titlist Esteban Bermudez (14-3-2 10 KOs), 26, of Mexico, will not defend his belt against Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez on the Mikey Garcia-Sandor Martin DAZN card on Saturday in Fresno, California, as originally planned. Bermudez was due to make the first defense of his 108-pound belt but the fight is off the card. Matchroom Boxing did not offer a reason for it being dropped from the show but a WBA source told Fight Freaks Unite the organization has ordered him to face “super” titleholder Hiroto Kyoguchi and never agreed to sanction a fight with Rodriguez. “The fight was never approved by the WBA. We stick with what we say. One division, one champion,” the source said, referring to the WBA’s recent decision to reduce the number of titles it sanctions and trim down to one world title per division. Rodriguez (13-0 9 KOs), 21, of San Antonio, one of boxing’s top prospects and the younger brother of secondary junior bantamweight titlist Joshua Franco, remains on the card. He will face Jose Alejandro Burgos (18-4-1, 15 KOs), 26, of Mexico, in a 10-rounder.

The WBC announced that negotiations have broken down for a fight between cruiserweight titlist Ilunga Makabu and mandatory challenger Thabiso Mchunu, so the promotional rights will be auctioned at a purse bid on Friday via video conference. The purse bid is open to any WBC-registered promoter to participate. Makabu already owns an 11th-round knockout victory over Mchunu in a May 2015 nontitle bout. Makabu (28-2, 25 KOs), 33, a Congo native fighting out of South Africa, won the vacant title in January 2020 and has made one defense, a seventh-round knockout of Olanrewaju Durodola in December. Mchunu (23-5, 13 KOs), 33, a southpaw from South Africa, will be getting his second shot at a world title. In December 2016, he lost by ninth-round knockout challenging then-WBO titlist Oleksandr Usyk.

Popular British heavyweight David Price (25-7, 20 KOs), 38, has retired from boxing. Price, a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist and the 2012 ESPN prospect of the year, hadn’t fought since a fourth-round knockout loss to Dereck Chisora in October 2019. He was stopped in all of his defeats but was still very popular with fans due to his friendly demeanor and exciting fights. “Well, I haven’t officially announced that I’ve retired, but I have,” Price told BT Sport in the United Kingdom. “I’m not going to be fighting again. That was only officially made up in my mind about six weeks ago. A few factors came into it. I’m 38, and the hunger was no longer there. That’s massive, which is why your elite fighters like Tyson (Fury), like Canelo (Alvarez), like AJ (Anthony Joshua), they have got as much money as they will ever need. But that hunger is still there. That’s because they are fighting for glory. The glory had gone in my career. You won’t see me in a boxing ring again, for a fight at least.”

Upstart promoter Probellum announced two more signings as it continues to sign many fighters. It has signed British junior welterweight Lewis Ritson (21-2, 12 KOs), 28, who fights on a Boxxer card against Hank Lundy on Saturday. Probellum also signed Darius Fulghum, 25, of Houston, the No. 1-ranked amateur heavyweight in the United States. He intends to fight professionally at light heavyweight. “I was denied an opportunity to compete in the Olympics due to Covid. With that being taken from me it lit a fire under me to show that I’m the best in the world in my professional career,” Fulghum said. “Watch my career unfold now that I have signed a promotional deal with Probellum. I’m destined for greatness.”

Show and tell

After Tyson Fury stopped Deontay Wilder in the seventh round to retain the lineal crown and take Wilder’s WBC heavyweight title in February 2020 — the last big fight before the coronavirus pandemic began — he was a subject of the Topps’ on-demand card program called Topps Now. For one week after the fight, Topps offered on its website a Fury card depicting him celebrating the victory in the ring. The card had the date of the fight and the label of “Gypsy King takes the crown” with fight details on the back. They were $9.99 apiece on the Topps website with slight bulk discounts available. But there are several dealers on eBay who offer Topps Now cards for much less. I bought several for about $5 apiece and I’m glad I did. After the purchase period ended, Topps revealed the print run of the card, which was 628. They sell for substantially more now if you can even find any for sale. Here is one of the cards in my collection.

Fury photo: Sean Michael Ham/TGB Promotions; Joshua photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing

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