Fury v Wilder makes sense for both sides

Wow, sure this might be BS from Fury again, but if true, this would be absolutely MASSIVE. And my gut is it might be real. It would explain Wilder not making the fight with Brazaele already, and it just makes too much sense for both sides. It would totally reshape all the current dynamics of the HW division. AND it would completely eliminate AJ and Hearn's negotiating advantage. This makes complete sense for Wilder, especially, and if he really thinks he's ready for a fight like that, it makes sense for Fury too. I think this deserves a deep breakdown of the dynamics involved and why it would work for both parties:

1. Try as hard core Wilder fans might, the simple fact is he doesn't have a ton of negotiating leverage against AJ right now, for two reasons, A. Respect and B Drawing power. Yes, while the hard core AJ fans may disagree, he is the clear #2 in the division, and the only other belt holder. But AJ's resume is still much better than Wilder, and he draws much more money than Wilder. He can draw the monetary line in the sand and its really up to Wilder at this point to take it or leave it. ***** all you want, but that's the way it works, and I, and other people who are reasonable and not hard core partisans are going to see it that way ( thinking of @latineg among others, who I'd be interested in getting the thoughts on this analysis). Same is basically true of Fury, who while his original claim to being "the guy" is better than AJ's, has let it lapse and now no longer has a belt and whose drawing power is more suspect now.

2. If they fight each other, particularly in GB, that will be a massive event. I don't think it would equal AJ Wlad, but it could at least get to normal AJ fight levels. The winner would have a demonstrated financial achievement at least in the ballpark of AJ. That immediately eliminates one of the two roadblocks to equivalent leverage with AJ, by eliminating the vast gap in drawing power.

3. It also eliminates the vast gap between either AJ or Fury in respect/resume. If Fury wins, he immediately has the best two wins of the division, better than AJ's best two wins. Its not really debatably for reasonable fans. AND he has a belt on top of it. Similarly, while the partisans would try to tear them down, Wilder would have a good argument that his two wins were at least at the level of AJ's best two wins: beating the "lineal" champ, for those that credit Fury as such (which is probably at least equivalent to beating an old Wlad 1.5 years removed from his last fight), and Ortiz (which is probably equivalent to an old Povetkin). As a non partisan, I would probably give a slight edge still to AJ, assuming he beats Sasha, but it is a debatable point. It certainly puts them on the same plane. And Wilder would have been a champ longer.

4. At that point, the winner could demand a 50% purse. And frankly, people like me, who aren't locked in to either side, and think the onus is currently on Wilder to just get the deal done for 40% or less, would think a 50% purse would be fair. At that point, if Hearn/AJ play games, I think the fan base really starts to revolt. I think they've got to get the deal done. If Wilder Fury do this, the only way I blame one of them for not getting the deal done is if they demand more than 50%, which I don't see happening.

5. The event itself will give both fighters a career high payday, easily the highest for Wilder, assuming its in GB, and probably the highest for Fury, since even if it doesn't make as much money as his Wlad fight (I think it will), he would probably get 50% as opposed to 25%. Why not go for it, when you get a fairly comparable number to what Hearn is probably offering now, especially with the payoff being an even more lucrative fight than you would have gotten if you fight AJ now?

6. Obviously, this is predicated on it being a winnable fight for both fighters. I would pick the Fury who beat Wlad to beat Wilder AND AJ. I have no idea if that Fury will ever exist again, let alone in December. But if he believes he's ready for it, he should go. Meanwhile, Wilder should jump on him while he still is more likely to have a lot of issues.

7. Even the loser will be in good position. You A. get the huge purse in that fight itself B. At least you know you've gone for the gold and try to get equal negotiating position with AJ. C. If you lose, there will still be (lesser) interest in an AJ fight. So pick the organization that offers the best path to a mandatory, get to that stage, and then collect 25% of the purse through that route. Honestly, that's probably only about 10-12% less than you'd get in a unification fight with AJ as it stands. Certainly, your net earnings are going to be significantly higher that just going for a unification with AJ as it stands.

8. Short of something unimaginable (Wlad coming out of retirement to fight one of them, etc), this is literally the ONLY way Fury or Wilder could eliminate those two critical items standing in the way of equivalent bargaining position with AJ. There is no other reasonable path forward. If they actually want to do something about team Hearn, and not just complain to their more rabid fan bases, THIS is the only thing that can change the dynamic.

MAKE THIS FIGHT!!!!!!!

 

I'm sure his hardcore fan base will say crazy stuff like that. But the reasonable people will have been won over. And the casual's will see the huge event of Fury Wilder and will clamor for the winner to face AJ. It will look like a clear duck if they don't offer 50/50 terms, or very close to it, at that point, and I think that would finally be a real danger to his future marketability.

 

I see it much the same. Except I hold out more of a possibility that Fury may be ready. Vitali came back with no tuneups after 4 years, bad injuries and politics. Fury will have had two tuneups, apparently is now at his old best fighting weight. By the time December rolls around, he might be close enough to ready that the rewards outweigh the risks. Which as my post outlines, the risk certainly isn't financial, just legacy. And if he wants the strongest legacy, this is how you do it anyway.

 

Agree with most of this, but disagree with the "financial disaster for loser" part. They could probably make as much money at 50/50 in this fight as at 35/65 against AJ. And then they can chose the best org to work themselves into mandatory position to face AJ at 25% and get way more total money than they would get at 35-40% against AJ as is.

 

Wilder would have a net gain of money, even if he lost, so long as he went an easy org route to get a mandatory with AJ later. He would get vastly more money if he won.