So fury signed a 5 fight deal to ESPN as we all know and there’s no real incentive for that fight to happen next, especially for top rank since if fury loses top ranks contract will go to waste. With that said we’ve officially entered Mayweather Pacquiao level of delays officially. Here’s a grid to put things into perspective, keep in mind it’s not 100% accurate as I’m kind of doing this off the top of the head. The FAs portion is probably the most complete but I’m pretty sure it’s on point. For AJ-> Dazn/matchroom Miller (scheduled to fight AJ next) Usyk Whyte (already fought AJ) Chisora Povetkin (already fought AJ) Takam (already fought AJ) For Wilder-> Showtime/Fox/PBC Breazeale Ortiz (already fought wilder) Joyce Martin Ejagba Kownacki Ruiz Jr Rivas (pbc fighter) Yoka For Fury -> ESPN/Top Rank Jennings Pulev Dinu Appear to be free agents Joseph Parker Dubois Hughy fury Hammer Helenius Lucas Browne Duahuapas Spilka Wach Ugonoh With this said who’s the best suited to wait around. Ironically it was wilder who appeared to be the guy that was frozen out of the division but looking at each fighters potential opponents and network platforms wilder is probably in the strongest position for American stardom. Joshua has good options but none that will resonate on the American scene considering the platform. Fury is also in a rough position imo because once everyone in America realizes his fights are boring as hell, he loses any leverage he once had on Deontay in rematch negotiations. I’ve also read on Twitter that ESPN has canceled Joshua media opportunities to promote his miller fight. Possibly due to the conflict of dazn executive John skipper that recently left ESPN. What do you guys think.
Joshua has not only the options, but also the "every fight is big money" advantage. The Usyk fight and Whyte rematch might actually be big events too. Fury's options seem very limited
Joshua is in the strongest position. He has the titles, is already earning large sums, has excellent non fight revenues also, has his domestic market sewn up and although currently a free agent there's a US broadcaster in DAZN who are willing to work with him over the long haul to build his brand overseas. His promoter has access to current top HW's and the capacity to build future opponents such as Usyk, maybe Hunter or Hrjovic. He also has time on his side in comparison to Wilder and very possibly Fury also. The belts do constrain him somewhat due to mandatory defences, but you can't have it all. Fury has the ESPN deal, we only know the headline figure not what's required for him to realise the full amount. He doesn't have the domestic market strength that AJ enjoys, so we now have to see how big a draw he is in the US and what level of opposition he requires. We also have to see how his style will go over to audiences who have so far only seen him in the one fight. No mandatory requirements so he's free from that requirement. Not many credible HW's in Top Ranks stable though. Wilder has the WBC belt and Showtime's support. He's getting older though and that must be a concern. Big question for him is if he can translate the attention from the Fury fight into interest in his next exploits. I think he's in the weakest position if he doesn't make a fight between one of the other two because there's not much sign of him becoming a PPV attraction in his own right.
The truth is that none of these guys are starving. Wilder will probably make anywhere from 3-7 million per fight from now on. Tank and Leo Santa Cruz both got 1 million for fighting absolute nobodies in small venues. Wilder will sell out Barclays every fight and likely land huge ratings. So sure AJ makes more money than him but wilder isn’t Miller who makes no money. He’s a top earner in the sport, just below aj. So as a result of wilders jump in popularity with fury. He can relax and make Ms the same way Joshua does, just not at many. Guys like Povetkin, Miller, Breazeale, Martin were desperate for AJ paydays because without him a million is impossible. Wilder will no doubt get 3-7 million for every fight he has here on out.
With Joshua having the majority of the belts and being the big money fight, it shouldn't matter who the promoter is. Or which stable each fighter is with. That's the fight all the guys in the division should be aiming for. Looking at Joshua's list of other matchroom fighters only Usyk stands out for me. That's a fight I would love to see but I don't think it will happen this year. Fury v Wilder then the winner facing the winner of Joshua v Miller, should be the next fights this year. If not then I'm going to have a melt down. The best facing the best no excuses, although location of the fights will probably be the big sticking point.
let's put it this way, people complained that the klitschko's reign was too boring and this is going to end up being the same. the judges that screwed up the fury and wilder fight are to blame for the future mess in the heavyweight division.
I think it's fairly obvious Joshua can win a waiting game. He's already in the best position. Unified, biggest earner, largest fan base. Eventually the roads all lead to him. He's on the outs right now because 2 and 3 (or 1 and 2, or 1 and 3), have already squared off, but they can't keep fighting each other forever. Eventually to legitimize one will have to fight Joshua so it'll be the same waiting game as it was before Fury and Wilder fought. The roads eventually lead to Joshua.