Well no. British fans will buy fury whoever he's fighting. And considerably more of them if it was a domestic opponent a la Joshua It's only the certain group of American fans who are interested in wilder now.
I don't think Wilder was a huge draw even in America. He never achieved the crossover success of Tyson, Ali, ... By that I mean boxing fans knew who he was but fans of other sports and the general population barely did. He was started to gain some traction but the situation is changed now. Unless he can beat Fury he will be known more for his losses than his victories.
Mostly agree, but suppose in any country the top heavyweight is always gonna attract decent home audiences (we once supported audley Harrison and David haye...) But as for worldwide appeal. Wilders never really had it and certainly even less now
Would not call it an immediate rematch, but Mario Veit got smashed up inside a round when he was mandatory challenger against Joe Calzaghe. He fought his way back to being the mandatory again 2 or 3 years later, and got smashed up again (although lasted a bit longer the 2nd time around!)
Wilder will obviously be interested in a Wilder fight, that's kinda the way it works. Same way only Fury fans cares about the Wallin fight etc. But Fury v Wilder 3 is a huge fight and I'm sure every Fury fan will be tuned in to watch it.
I don't see how Lewis vs Rahman could count for this. The favorite was winning the fight and then got caught in an upset ko. It's the exact kind of fight rematches are perfect for
I don't believe many of these fights fit the criteria proposed. Maybe Lewis vs McCall but then that was a one punch KO. It's different. Fury vs Wilder was a one sided drubbing. Wilder didn't win a round - he barely won any in the first fight and if not for the 12th round knockdown their wouldn't be any desire to have had this rematch. But he did and we got the rematch - Fury drubbed him so bad he is blaming his ring entrance costume for the loss. I never heard of that! Fury vs Wilder 3 is absurd and is what is wrong with the sport. Should be no contract to enforce that crap. And on another note can the division build up a few more guys. I feel like all we hear about is Fury, Wilder and Joshua for about 5 years now.
Not exactly ATG’s or anything, but I do remember Johnathon Banks-Seth Mitchell being a weird one. Banks winning by KO2 and then an immediate rematch, in which Mitchell won by UD.