OFFICIAL: Fury taking INTERM bout instead of Wilder...

Totally agree with Wilder on this one... ***** move by Fury and one that could kill or stall his career.

While Fury SHOULD be the WBC Champion after outboxing Wilder last December, the fact is that he doesn't have a title or the style that's going to attract American casuals should he busy himself fighting the bums Top Rank has on offer at heavyweight. Wilder's got the belt to leverage for a Joshua fight and the KOs to sustain interest around his beatings of Breazeale, Joyce, etc. Plus, more contenders will be willing to fight him as his technical flaws make him appear vincible. I doubt Joshua or many other non-TR guys take the Fury fight as it's too high-risk low-reward... Nobody wants to be humiliated like Wilder and Wlad were trying to land on that gangly mother****er.
I like Fury and can see why he would take a huge retirement package given the **** he's been through, but this is a giant step backwards.

 

Can Fury train right and be motivated to fight a lesser fighter?
We shall have to wait and see i guess.

 

I actually think a Rivas - Fury fight is a good one.

Before he fought Jennings, Rivas did fight a couple tall outboxer/boxer-puncher type fighters. Both did take him the distance, but Rivas won very convincingly on the cards. Neither of these guys was anywhere near Fury's level, obviously, but they did give Rivas some useful prep for this type of fight.

If Fury doesn't prepare properly for this fight - there's a reasonable chance Rivas can bomb him out of there.