Deontay Wilder exercises rematch clause, third fight with Tyson Fury will happen

In news that comes as no surprise given all he’s been saying, promoters Bob Arum and Frank Warren have both confirmed to BT Sport that Deontay Wilder has officially exercised his contractual rematch clause to face Tyson Fury for a third time later this year.

Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KO) was stopped in the seventh round by Fury (30-0-1, 21 KO) last Saturday night in their blockbuster rematch in Las Vegas, a dominant, one-sided beatdown from Fury, who did pretty much everything he said he would do, other than he didn’t finish in the second round, which had been his official prediction.

There is certainly still interest in seeing these two do it again, though an immediate rematch may be unlikely to meet the 800-850K PPV numbers they reportedly just did.

Wilder recorded an emotional video late last night saying he will rise up and regain his title. Fury, for what it’s worth, has been pretty quiet other than little showings of himself having a nice time, but he’s also already gotten back to training, if social media is to be believed.

The only thing that could happen now, in theory, that would stop this from happening next is Fury balking and vacating the WBC belt, but that doesn’t seem likely. It’s Tyson Fury, so it’s a non-zero chance, but not likely.