1. Fury Mad He Didn’t Finish Wilder
For the first time since his epic draw against Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury looks to start over on June 15th against Tom Schwarz.
“I’ve been out of the ring for (over) six months, so I’ll have to start again,” Fury told Press Association Sport.
“That’s seven months’ inactivity,” Fury continued leading to his ESPN+ debut on Saturday night inside the MGM Grand, “I only had six months of activity before that. They spoke about (Gennady) Golovkin being out of the ring for nine months as his biggest lay-off ever; I’ve just had seven.
“Seven months out of the ring is a hell of a long time. I hope I’m going to get active this next six months; the first six months of this year have been quite terrible because I didn’t get the fight I wanted and have been made to wait until June.
Larger than he was against Wilder, the former unified world heavyweight champion feels disappointed he didn’t finish the current WBC world heavyweight champion.
“Going 12 rounds with Deontay Wilder doesn’t give me any confidence,” said the Gypsy King. “It actually makes me have concerns – I thought I could get Deontay Wilder out of there within six rounds, so having to go 12 with him wasn’t great. I should have done better.
“Deontay Wilder’s living his life in my reputation and the fight he had with me,” he said.
2. VanZant Undergoes Gruesome Surgery
Earlier this week, Paige VanZant underwent a third surgery to repair a broken left arm, and decided to share the gory details with her Instagram followers.
VanZant, who last competed at the UFC’s debut on ESPN+ in January, was prepared to fight earlier this spring, but would be pulled due to breaking her arm the third time in less than 18 months, breaking it the first time in January 2018 in the first round of her decision loss to Jessica-Rose Clark at UFC St. Louis.
VanZant would have a metal barreadjusted in her arm, showing the work on her Instagram page, not sparing her followers, who see her daily life with husband Austin Vanderford, the dirty details of her successful surgery.
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3. Sonnen: Win A Title Or Be A Failure
With opportunities in WEC, UFC, and Bellator coming up empty, 42-year-old Chael Sonnen knows time is running out to keep a promise to his late father.
“At this point, I almost regret it and wish I would’ve kept it as a personal motivation for myself,” Sonnen told MMA Junkie of his promise to his late father to win a major championship.
“It is a lot of pressure. … I will either win the championship, or I will be a failure. I believe that wholeheartedly. I was told when I was 17 years old by Matt Lindland, we were both on a wrestling quest at that time, but he told me, ‘You cannot retire unless you win a world championship; you can only quit.’ I don’t want to be a quitter.”
“Looking at it going in with, say the intimidation factor, he’s right up there because he’s so weird,” Sonnen said of his Bellator 222 opponent Lyoto Machida.
“I don’t have anybody in Portland that does what he does. We don’t do karate. In my mind we settled this debate of wrestlers vs. karate guys in 1993. That’s what I thought happened, but he stuck around, and that’s a credit to him. But somehow he’s found a way to make a sport that sucks effective.”
Two years after Zuffa Boxing was announced but never fulfilled, the parent company of the UFC, Endeavor, and Dana White are looking into a purchase of Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.
PBC, which features both unified world heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr and WBC world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, as well as welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, have lucrative television contracts with both Showtime and FOX Sports, both of which have a complex history with White.
“Rumors are true,” wrote The Athletic’s Mike Coppinger.
“Al [Haymon] held several meetings with Ari Emanuel about a potential deal where Al would still be majorly involved the same way Dana [White] is with UFC following that deal with Endeavor.”
5. Three UK Stadiums Possible For AJ-Ruiz Jr Rematch
The road to a rematch between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr may go through three of the biggest stadiums in the United Kingdom, per Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn.
Joshua, who was dropped four times by Ruiz before being stopped in the seventh round, exercised his rematch clause days after the loss, and has his preference for where he looks to exact revenge on the new unified world heavyweight champion.
“There are discussions for White Hart Lane, Wembley and Cardiff [Principality],” Hearn told iFL TV .
“I think AJ likes the Wembley fight, obviously he’s had a lot of good nights there, but in November the weather is not the best, potentially. But does that suit us more? I don’t know how Andy Ruiz likes it in the rain.”
Per Boxing Scene, Joshua is also interested, in a return to Madison Square Garden, looking to come back and avenge his first pro loss in the building it happened in.
“AJ said, ‘Do you think it would be a big statement if I came back and put the wrong right at MSG?’ I said, ‘From a marketing, fairy-tale perspective – yeah, absolutely. But you have to win this fight and you’re at a much bigger advantage if this fight’s in the UK.’ For me, the fight should be in the UK. You came to Andy Ruiz’s country to take this fight, it doesn’t make you a bad person having a rematch in the UK,” Hearn said.