WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury announced last weekend that he would be returning to the ring for the first time since flooring Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas, in February of this year, on 5th December.
Interestingly, he did not name a particular opponent for the fight. Fury came out last week to declare that talks for a trilogy fight with Wilder, tentatively scheduled for 19th December, had been called off after they dragged on too long.
“They [Wilder’s camp] tried moving off 19 December and pushing to next I’ve moved on”, Fury told The Athletic. Other reports in the American media suggested the time limit for agreeing to a rematch clause had lapsed.
Boxing fans all over the world have, for the last few years, heavily anticipated a blockbuster matchup between Fury and IBF, WBO, and WBA titleholder Anthony Joshua but with him fighting Kubrat Pulev of Bulgaria on 12 December, any unification bout between the two British heavyweights had to be moved to 2021.
Another British boxer, Dillian Whyte was a mandatory challenger for the WBC belt and would have been in contention to face Fury had he not suffered an upset loss to Alexander Povetkin. That loss made it necessary for Whyte to come through a rematch with the veteran Russian in order to earn another shot at the title.
Assuming the declaration of the date is not a bluff to pressure Wilder and his team into agreeing to Fury’s terms, the Gypsy King still has some challenges that could take him on on 5th.
Top of the list is the 39-year-old Carlos Takam, a 28 knockout wins fighter whose overall record stands at 39-5-1. According to Joe DeGuardia, President of Star Boxing, Takam’s co-promoters, the Frenchman of Cameroonian descent is eager to fight Tyson.
Takam has faced and lost to the likes of Joshua, Povetkin, Joseph Parker, and Derek Chisora. He would therefore be a decent challenger to Fury but would be unlikely to cause him problems, which keeps the unification path with Joshua, open.
Tyson Fury looking for the next big fight and challenger to take him on
Another fighter who could be parachuted into the picture is Micheal Hunter. The 32-year-old American has been in the boisterous mood lately, even offering to fight Fury for free. Hunter’s last fight was against Povetkin, a match that was scored a draw, but in which he rattled the Russian hitman considerably.
He would be a tougher proposition than Takam, which renders the question of whether Fury and his team would be willing to jeopardise the WBC title, a question Hunter has exploited gleefully, claiming Fury’s team are avoiding him because they are scared of him.
A more desirable opponent from Fury’s perspective would be Oscar Rivas, courtesy of the fact that the Colombian has been out of the ring for so long, having last fought over a year ago, and therefore might be a little rusty. He is ranked 8th by the WBC and has beaten the likes of Pulev and Andy Ruiz Jr.
Ruiz Jr. is himself an attractive proposition to face Fury, at least in the eyes of fans and neutrals. He hasn’t fought since losing to Joshua in December last year but is a former champion who called out Fury for a fight earlier this year. He is another who might be regarded as too dangerous at this juncture.
Other likely, but definitely less enticing possible match-ups involve Fury going up against the likes of Nigeria’s Efe Ajagba, an upstart who has won all fourteen of his professional fights so far, knocking his opponents out on eleven occasions as well as Agit Kabayel, who like Ajagba, has never fought for a world title before.
However, he is unbeaten after twenty fights, thirteen of which have ended in knockouts. The fact that he is promoted by Top Rank; the same company that promotes Fury, is what could make this matchup happen easily. On his part, he has said that an opponent will be announced “very soon” so for now, all we can do is wait.
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