WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has been hunting for a possible opponent – and it hasn’t been easy.
Fury has been out of the ring since last December, when he battered and stopped Derek Chisora in their trilogy fight.
Earlier this year, Fury tried to finalize an undisputed fight with WBO, IBF, WBA, IBO champion Oleksandr Usyk. The two sides were unable to reach a deal on the financial terms for the rematch.
Approaches were made to Andy Ruiz, Zhilei Zhang and even Anthony Joshua. None of them panned out, with Ruiz allegedly asking for $20 million, Zhang being contractually obligated to have a rematch with Joe Joyce, and Joshua taking a pass to pursue an already planned two-fight scenario for August and December.
According to Fury’s co-promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, there are plenty of options out there – with the veteran promoter naming top rated Martin Bakole and former EBU champion Agit Kabayel as options.
“There’s a whole list [of possible opponents]. You go down the list of contenders with the various [sanctioning] organizations and pick one. This guy [Bakole] that beat Tony Yoka, he’s a good possibility. This Agit Kabayel, he’s a good opponent,” Arum told IFL TV.
“There are a lot of good opponents, but that’s for [Fury co-promoters] Frank Warren and George Warren to sort out with Tyson, which I think they’ll be doing early next week.”
Promoters in the Saudi Arabia are angling to have a major doubleheader in December, with Fury facing Usyk in the main event, and Joshua colliding with Deontay Wilder in the co-feature.
If the doubleheader actually comes off, and the British stars win their respective fights, it would set the stage for a major all-British mega-fight.
“You can certainly envisage that fight happening. If Tyson Fury beats Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua beats Deontay Wilder, then people would string up all the promoters if they don’t come together and make a Fury vs. Joshua fight. It depends on how these fights play out and that’s the way it should be,” Arum said.