Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder: Frank Warren blames ESPN for blocking immediate heavyweight rematch

Deontay Wilder’s co-manager also revealed that the WBC champion had turned down a multi-fight deal from ESPN

Tyson Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren, has blamed the Brit’s new multi-million pound deal with ESPN for delaying a rematch with WBC world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.

The WBC confirmed yesterday that Fury had told the governing body he wished to take a warm-up fight in the States first to increase his exposure, at the behest of ESPN and co-promoters Top Rank.

Warren claimed he was “very disappointed” by the news, which pushes back a potential rematch to late 2019. Joseph Parker and Kubrat Pulev, also both aligned to Bob Arum’s promotional label, are now frontrunners to face Fury in May.

“It’s not our doing. ESPN/Top Rank, they’re insisting they want to give Tyson an exposure fight in the States first,” Warren told TalkSport.

“I’m very disappointed we’re not going straight to it, but it is actually beyond our control.”

Deontay Wilder’s co-manager Shelly Finkel also weighed in on the news, revealing ESPN had offered Wilder a multi-fight deal which would effectively secure the Alabama native’s future to the network.

However, the veteran manager was not willing to betray his and Wilder’s long-held allegiances to rival broadcaster Showtime.

“We did receive an offer from Top Rank which included a multi-fight deal with Deontay,” Finkel told World Boxing News.

“The deal effectively meant signing Deontay over to them and included a purse for a fight before the Tyson Fury rematch. But we didn’t want to – and are not going to – give up our fighter up to them.

“If we wanted to do a fight beforehand, we would do it ourselves.”