Fury vs Wilder 3 could still be coming in 2021

Tyson Fury was looking to fight again on Dec. 5, likely against Agit Kabayel, but with Deontay Wilder forcing arbitration over a rematch clause, that idea is off, and Fury won’t return until next year.

Co-promoter Frank Warren confirms to ESPN that Fury is looking to fight again early in 2021, and that it may indeed have to be against Wilder:

“Hopefully Tyson will fight again in the first quarter of 2021, and we don’t know yet if it will be against Wilder because of the arbitrary situation, we’re still waiting on the outcome of that. ... An arbitration judge will decide it. We say it [the rematch clause] is at an end, Wilder says it can be extended. If the judge rules that Wilder is right, then that’s what he [Fury] has to do. They will give us a decision soon, but we don’t know when.”

Fury (30-0-1, 21 KO) seems to want to move on from Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KO), and in a lot of ways, it’s hard to blame him. For one, he’s had to wait around for several months. For another, Wilder has now gone on a bizarre crusade accusing Fury of loading his gloves, having a referee and one of Wilder’s former trainers in on some sort of conspiracy that includes tainted water, and something or other to do with his fingernails under the loaded gloves cutting Wilder’s ears. It’s a lot of utter nonsense, and it’s hard to blame Fury for not wanting to be associated with this guy getting another major payday.

But the rematch clause is what it is, and if a judge rules that Wilder’s side are right, as Warren says, Fury either has to fight Wilder again — or he could give up the WBC title. Fury doesn’t seem terribly enamored with sanctioning body title belts or orders, but you can also never tell what’s just headline bluster and what’s real.

We should know soon enough.