In this week’s Fight Talk we look at possible opponents for Tyson Fury after the WBC champion said he will not be fighting Deontay Wilder this year, and plans to compete in the United Kingdom in December instead.
We also look at news Sheffield’s former world champion Kell Brook has split with trainer Dominic Ingle before a fight with Terence Crawford, and debate Briton Luke Campbell’s chances against Ryan Garcia.
Who should Fury face next?
Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder III – it’s now looking like it won’t happen. Well, certainly not anytime soon.
After their 2018 fight ended in a controversial draw, Fury dominated their rematch in February to win the WBC heavyweight belt.
The trilogy bout was due to take place in December, but this week Fury said he has “moved on” from facing Wilder and will instead be “coming home” to fight instead…
Frank Warren, who co-promotes Fury, also told talkSPORT the champion will now fight in London in December, against an unnamed opponent, setting up a mega-fight with fellow Brit Anthony Joshua in spring 2021.
Boxing fans are still left with so many unanswered questions. Firstly, where does this leave Wilder?
There were suggestions his rematch clause had expired, but over the weekend his manager Shelly Finkel said “it’s simply not true” and maintained they still plan to take on Fury.
Speaking to World Boxing News, he added: “Deontay Wilder is fighting Tyson Fury in December. We are working on the fight. We will update soon.”
Wilder has stayed out of the limelight since his loss to Fury…
So if not Wilder, then what level of opponent will we see Fury take on next? With many of the big boys of the division already in scheduled fights, fans are not necessarily expecting a top-level contender…
Fury v Price? Think that ship sailed a long time ago. But stranger things have happened.
While most fans want to see Fury in a competitive fight, this chap has a different way of looking at it…
As for Fury-Joshua, it will undoubtedly be the biggest British fight of all time. Joshua holds the WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight titles; but will a clash with Fury be for all of the belts?
Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk is the WBO mandatory and, should he beat Briton Dereck Chisora on 31 October, will be pushing his claim for a world title shot against Joshua.
‘AJ’ could relinquish the belt and not face Usyk, but that would mean Joshua v Fury won’t be for the undisputed title.
Although, with a fight of that magnitude, does it really matter if all of the belts are not on the line? Fury doesn’t think so…
And let’s not forget, Joshua still has to come through his fight with Kubrat Pulev, due to take place by the end of the year.
Brook splits with trainer ahead of Crawford fight
Although not yet officially confirmed, Briton Kell Brook looks set to take on undefeated American pound-for-pound star Terence Crawford in November.
At the moment, there is no British television broadcaster taking the fight and, as such, it’s one that has gone under the radar.
It was also announced this past week that former IBF welterweight champion Brook will not have trainer Dominic Ingle in his corner.
“Kell is doing his own thing,” Ingle told IFL TV.
Ingle guided Brook to his greatest night in boxing when he beat American Shawn Porter in 2014 to win the world title.
The Sheffield fighter has two losses in his record; to Kazakhstan’s Gennady Golovkin in 2016 and America’s Errol Spence Jr the following year.
Fans are predicting it to be another tough night, and potentially a final career pay day, for Brook…
But don’t write him off just yet. Although the 34-year-old will go in as a huge underdog against Crawford, Brook is still looking in good shape…
Can Campbell beat Garcia?
Ryan Garcia v Luke Campbell – it’s on. And it’s a fight which we cannot wait for.
Briton Campbell will travel to the States to take on much-hyped American Garcia on 5 December.
Campbell is a 2012 Olympic gold medallist and two time world-title challenger, losing out to Venezuelan Jorge Linares in 2017 and Ukraine’s Vasyl Lomachenko in 2019.
Garcia has a huge online following (more than 7.4m Instagram followers) and has won all of his 20 professional fights, 17 by knockout.
But Campbell is an experienced fighter still hungry for a world title which has eluded him. And he’s in a confident mood.
“I’m going to prove this is far too much, far too soon and that I’m on a completely different level,” Campbell told DAZN.
Garcia will need to make sure he doesn’t take him too lightly. Take one fight at a time, right?
Well, he is already planning ahead after agreeing over Twitter to take on fellow American Gervonta Davis in 2021…
Having turned 22 in August, Garcia still has many years left in the fight game. And who better to learn from than Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez?