Tyson Fury Signs Exclusive Deal With ESPN, Casting Shade On Wilder Rematch

Boxing fans waiting on pins and needles for the anticipated Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury rematch may be forced to wait even longer.

The fight was supposedly supposed to be announced during a press conference in Great Britain today. However, a major announcement may have thrown a serious wrench in those plans. Fury and promoter Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions announced a multi-year partnership with ESPN and Bob Arum’s Top Rank Boxing.

The deal will feature a minimum of two fights a year airing on ESPN and the network’s streaming service ESPN+. Fury also re-signed with BT Sport to be his exclusive U.K. home as part of the new deal. Fury expressed excitement at the new deal on social media this morning:

Big thanks to @MTKGlobal and @frankwarren_tv for getting this deal done. Now the best heavyweight on the plant has a home in 🇺🇸 @espn and a home in 🇬🇧 @btsport pic.twitter.com/lbOME1TM51

— TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) February 18, 2019

A New Horizon

Fury also discussed his future involving the new deal (via CBS Sports):

“I’m delighted that Frank and Queensberry Promotions have teamed up with Top Rank to promote my fights in America. With ESPN and BT Sport behind me, the biggest sports platforms in the world are now linked up with the best heavyweight in the world!”

Arum also expressed his own excitement at entering the partnership with Queensberry Promotions as he hyped Fury:

“Top Rank is very excited to enter into the promotional arrangement along with Queensberry Promotions for the lineal heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury,” Arum said. “He is a generational heavyweight talent at the peak of his powers. We also look forward to our growing relationship with MTK Global, which represents so many world-class fighters.”

Wilder Rematch Off The Table?

While, Fury, Warren, and Arum are all understandably excited at the prospect of the new ESPN deal, there is cause for major concern, however. Fury and Warren stated that the Wilder rematch was still being worked on for this year. However, Warren said that Wilder’s team was not informed of the ESPN deal before it was announced today.

Wilder fights under the Premier Boxing Champions brand, where his fights air on Showtime and FOX. He and Fury fought to a furious split draw in early December. Most thought

Fury controlled the majority of the action but Wilder dropped him twice. After the fight, talk of a rematch swirled immediately. The rematch date was expected to be confirmed as early as this week. The WBC ordered a purse bid due to the controversial nature of the first bout, but that was postponed because it was thought the rematch was so close to truly happening.

Problems Arise In Negotiations

For those not familiar with the intricacies of boxing negotiations, the rematch is now a risky proposition for both sides due to Fury’s ESPN deal. Either side could be outbid for control of television rights. A joint pay-per-view deal could conceivably be struck between the two sides as it was between HBO and Showtime for 2015’s Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight. But Wilder vs. Fury wasn’t nearly on the level of that fight with just 300,000 buys.

Fury essentially came back from a deep depression to become a solid wild card in the heavyweight division’s plans. A super fight between Wilder and British champion Anthony Joshua had been in talks but never happened. Fury swooped in to fight Wilder and upset any sort of balance among promotions and/or negotiations. The previous fact that Fury had no official television deal in the U.S. meant any fight could have been possible for him. But now that he’s exclusively on ESPN, a fight with Wilder has become more unlikely. The same could be said for a fight with Joshua, who signed with streaming service DAZN.

Warren said that Fury signing with ESPN made them the power brokers in the deal:

“The game has changed now, ESPN are the biggest broadcasters in the U.S. If [Joshua] wants to fight Tyson, they’re going to have to come to us.”