Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder 3 will not now take place on Saturday December 19 but may yet go ahead on an earlier date in December at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, according to promoter Bob Arum.
Arum, whose Top Rank co-promotes Fury along with Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions, says he has been advised to move the world heavyweight title fight to avoid competing for TV eyeballs with a packed American football schedule on the last Saturday before Christmas.
The 88-year-old Hall of Famer told ESPN: “We’re moving off because there’s five conference championship games that day and night, plus two NFL games.
“So we can’t go with the 19th, we’re looking at other dates right now because ESPN advised us, and FOX advised the PBC.”
Arum, who said the bout could now happen “a little earlier in December” and not necessarily be moved later into early 2021, did have good news on the venue front with Allegiant Stadium now looking more likely than ever to stage the fight.
The brand new $2billion facility – home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders – is closed to football fans for the entirety of the 2020 season but Arum has said he hopes to get the green light to have 10-15,000 spectators allowed in for Fury vs Wilder 3.
He revealed: “It’s definitely Allegiant Stadium. The Raiders are on board, the city is on board, the Convention Authority is on board. Everybody is on board.”
The showdown with the dangerous Wilder (42-1-1) appears to be the final hurdle Fury (30-0-1) must negotiate en route to a blockbusting unification showdown with fellow British world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua next summer.
Fury and Wilder first met at Staples Center in Los Angeles in December 2018, with a thrilling bout ending in a controversial draw after Fury had twice been knocked down by ‘The Bronze Bomber’.
But ‘The Gypsy King’ left nothing to chance in the Las Vegas rematch in February, battering Wilder to a first professional defeat inside seven one-sided rounds at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
There was an element of surprise when Wilder immediately exercised the rematch clause for a trilogy clash given the manner of that defeat, and he has been strangely silent ever since with his camp producing several excuses for his defeat.
Arum meanwhile has consistently re-iterated the fight cannot happen without a live gate – the Vegas rematch raked in almost $17million through the turnstiles, a new record for a heavyweight bout.
