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COULD DEONTAY WILDER'S DUCKING AND DIVING GIVE FURY THE GAP HE NEED TO FIGHT DREW MCINTYRE?

It looks almost certain now that Deontay Wilder will not fight Tyson Fury in 2020. The latest twist in this heavyweight saga, that has been rumbling on for over two years now, comes after Fury’s camp appeared to run out of patience with the American. The suggestion was that the 35-year-old Alabama fighter was attempting to buy time in order to be better prepared to face Fury. This could be because Fury outclassed him from start to finish during their second showdown in February.

Fury’s form was so dominant that he was able to stop Wilder in the seventh round after the American’s corner threw in the towel, having seen quite enough. Their goal is now to ensure Wilder is not on the receiving end of such a brutal beating again. But the feeling in the American’s camp is that he could be if he is sent back into the ring with Fury this year, hence the tactics to buy time. 

Consequently, Fury’s camp has pulled the plug, and the completion of this long-running saga does genuinely look to be in sight. Perhaps the most telling sign that this bout may indeed be off for good is that punters are no longer able to find odds on the match in the latest boxing betting markets being offered. You’ll find all the other heavyweight match-ups priced there, like Anthony Joshua vs Kubrat Pulev, or Joseph Parker vs Junior Fa, but you won’t see anything to do with Fury vs Wilder. 

With this, all in mind, will Fury now get his long-awaited chance to fight Drew McIntyre? Rumours suggested that the WWE was keen on this fight going ahead for the world title, but Fury’s back-to-back schedule made it previously impossible. Now that the Englishman has potentially got a gap in his calendar, it could go ahead, although without the same appeal the fight first offered. 

That’s because McIntyre was unable to defend his WWE world title against Randy Orton during a Hell in a Cell match up. Orton’s victory means that he has won wrestling’s ultimate belt for the fourteenth time. But that could also signal the end of Fury’s interest in a fight with the man the American beat, McIntyre. 

We’ll soon find out if Fury had genuine bad blood with the Scotsman or if he was purely interested in holding both the boxing heavyweight championship of the world, as well as the WWE’s world championship title. One suspects it was the latter and if that turns out to be the case then Randy Orton may well be in the Englishman's crosshairs now. 

Whatever happens over the coming few months, you do get the sense that Tyson Fury is by no means done with the WWE and will make a comeback at some stage or other. Should Wilder continue to avoid him, the Englishman will likely put his time to good use and make a return to the United States to carry on his WWE adventure.

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