Remember about a year ago when boxing fans were practically giddy about a heavyweight division that was finally moving in the right direction, full of big-fight possibilities and destined for unification?
Forget about all that now.
Back then, Anthony Joshua had captured three of four belts, WBC champ Deontay Wilder had proven himself ?for real? by beating back the challenge of Luis Ortiz, Tyson Fury was making real talk about a real comeback, and Dillian Whyte was proving himself ready for the elite. And, best of all, there seemed to be little to no impediment to making any of the big heavyweight bouts out there. Everyone at the top was talking tough and hard about being eager to prove themselves best among big men.
But, again, nope?ain?t gonna happen.
Recent media rumors have Dillian Whyte moving on from a working deal with Anthony Joshua?s promoter Eddie Hearn in favor of, per BoxingScene, ?a lucrative, multi-fight contract with promoter Bob Arum?s Top Rank Inc.?
The deal would reportedly bring the UK?s Whyte to the US and make him an ESPN contract player?Top Rank/ESPN?s second major heavyweight acquisition in approximately three weeks.
On February 18, Top Rank/ESPN announced a multi-fight co-promotional deal with Tyson Fury, reportedly worth upwards of $100 million. The deal immediately put the brakes on a nearly-finalized Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury rematch and had boxing people wondering everywhere whether the three kings of the heavyweight division, now separated by three corporate/network barriers, would ever be able to face one another.
Since the Fury signing, Top Rank bossman Bob Arum, according to Wilder co-manager Shelly Finkel, has already used Fury as lure to bring Wilder over to ESPN and, conveniently enough, a Top Rank promotional deal.
But other than Arum being Arum, everyone at the top of the division is hunkering down and readying themselves for the coming cold war.
Team Wilder, after turning down the multi-fight Top Rank/ESPN deal, is setting their sights on Dominic Breazeale with the ever-helpful WBC facilitating that move by suddenly deciding to enforce Breazeale?s status as mandatory challenger.
Not long before the Fury Top Rank/ESPN deal, Anthony Joshua came to terms to meet Jarrell Miller in New York?s Madison Square Garden for lack of anything better to do after negotiations with Dillian Whyte fell apart and Wilder vs. Fury 2 seemed like a foregone conclusion.
Meanwhile, new promotional stablemates Fury and Whyte will be cooling their heels, waiting on a warm-up fight before something meaningful is scribbled in their agendas. Given the dearth of high-end free agent challenges out there, it likely means Fury vs. Whyte later this year with Fury?s semi-fictitious lineal champ status on the line.
So, there you have it. With the signing of Whyte, there goes the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle now split in three parts and firmly tucked away in three separate boxes.
As is usually the case in boxing, the appearance of big money and the availability of side deals to siphon off some of that money has turbo-charged the already-present greed and ill will.
What will it take to make the big heavyweight fights fans want to see and the sport so desperately needs?
Well, apparently, if Joshua and Wilder want Fury or Whyte, they?ll have to sign on to team Top Rank. If Fury and Whyte want Wilder, they?ll have to sneak over the ESPN wall and fight over at Fox or Showtime. And anyone who wants a shot at Joshua will have to do so at DAZN on Eddie Hearn?s Matchroom terms.
What?ll be interesting to see is when Joshua beats Miller, Wilder beats Breazeale, and Fury-Whyte plays out. Then what? One more round of time-fillers? Rivas, Kownacki, Jennings? Maybe Luis Ortiz and Alexander Povetkin get one more cycle around.
Maybe ?interesting? isn?t the word to describe what may be coming for a heavyweight division so deeply divided.
More appropriate?
?Fucked-up? comes to mind.
