The video former heavyweight world titlist Deontay Wilder posted this week on social media caught the eye of Top Rank’s Bob Arum, Tyson Fury’s co-promoter.
In the video, Wilder called Fury a “thief” and accused him of cheating in their rematch by using loaded gloves, took a shot at referee Kenny Bayless and called now-former co-trainer Mark Breland “disloyal” for throwing in the towel while Wilder was taking a beating in the seventh round.
“That to my mind is really serious in the sense that he’s called Fury a thief and a criminal. It’s so preposterous,” Arum told BoxingScene.com. “And then to accuse Mark Breland of putting something in his water? Mark is a great guy. And what would be his motivation to do that? And then third, to demean and defame Kenny Bayless the way he did, that he was drunk? I mean it’s crazy.”
“It’s clear from the documents that the date (by which a third fight had to happen) was July plus 90 days,” Arum said. “When I talked to Tyson before we even started talking about Dec. 19 it was based on a multi-million dollar gate, the casinos buying tickets, and robust pay-per-view. And it wasn’t thrown out the window by us. It was thrown out the window by the two networks (ESPN and Fox). They say you can’t go Dec. 19 and they’re completely right.
“So, Tyson is going to fight Dec. 5 and (the Wilder camp says) they have the right to Fury’s next fight, which they don’t. I assume that they’re going to challenge the Dec. 5 fight but I have no idea how they will.”
