Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder were supposed to have their trilogy fight this summer before the coronavirus outbreak pushed it back to at least the fall.
As the WBC world heavyweight champion thinks about it some more, he believes his seventh-round TKO of Wilder in February was so one-sided that the only reason that "The Bronze Bomber" would ever activate his rematch clause so quickly is "for the money."
“He didn’t win a second of that second fight, but in this game it’s a short game and a short career, and there’s an old saying — ‘We’ve gotta make hay while the sun shines,'" Fury told talkSport recently. “And for Deontay Wilder, at the age of 34, how many big fights out there are left for him after a domination like he had? So, I understand where he’s coming from. I understand that he has probably a lot of bills to pay.
“I don’t know the man’s personal circumstances, but from what I’ve seen of these American fighters and sportsmen, they always live a rockstar’s lifestyle, even though they’re not rockstars," he continued. “They go through a lot of money quite quickly. Just look at Mike Tyson — he went through like a billion dollars or whatever he went through. So, I’m sure that the money side of it is the tempting thing. I don’t think it’s too tempting to go in there and get an absolute beating like he did before, but he would be tempted by the amount of money that he would receive because they go through it quite quickly.
“I think that’s the reason he’s taking the fight, for the money.”
Fury thoroughly outboxed Wilder in their first fight, although Wilder's two knockdowns of the "Gypsy King" helped him get a controversial split decision in December 2018. During their rematch in February, Fury simply pummeled Wilder from the onset of the bout all the way up to the eventual seventh-round TKO.
Fury also told talkSport that he was "disappointed" in the fight that Wilder presented him in that rematch, calling it one of his "easiest fights" as a pro.
All this talk should help lay the groundwork for an intriguing buildup toward the trilogy fight once the coronavirus subsides.