Although the drama between Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua had grown stale, Wilder upped the ante a notch recently.  In an interview with Brandon Schuab, Deontay Wilder drops hint that he is pursuing a fight with lineal champion, Tyson Fury.  The ultimate chess move by Wilder and his team.

Although there’s no way in hell a Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder fight happens in 2018, the possibility alone of landing the fight is a threat to Team Joshua.  Eddie Hearn has given his own account of the events of the failed Wilder fight.  But, nobody wants to keep rehashing that shit, to be honest.  Wilder has clearly (threatened to) moved on.  And, thus far, Hearn hasn’t addressed nor countered a potential Fury bout.

Tyson Fury took to Instagram to express his desire to sign a contract to fight Deontay Wilder, strengthening discussion and rumor that a fight may be brewing.  Fury and Wilder fighting before Anthony Joshua gets a crack at him certainly helps Team Wilder.  A win over Fury would catapult Deontay Wilder to official A-side.  Despite Joshua’s multiple titles and celebrity in the U.K., Wilder would leapfrog AJ with his hometown fans, as well.  This would be a threat to Eddie’s work to keep Anthony Joshua the most relevant Heavyweight in the world.  And, there would be little to no posturing and flexing to make the fight happen.  All that would be needed is a little time for Fury to prepare.

Going forward, one must wonder if or when Eddie Hearn can undercut Wilder to the punch to take on Fury.  Anthony Joshua’s career defining and most financially beneficial bout to date for him, and the U.K., is to fight Tyson Fury.  Hearn’s cash-out move was supposed to be, Povetkin, maybe a filler in between, Wilder, THEN, Fury.  Wilder undercutting A.J. and Hearn, and beating Fury, puts him on pace to nothing less than a 50/50 split, maybe even 55/45 to take on Joshua.

Hearn better call Wilder back and fix that fight for 2019!