Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder rematch planned for July: What will it earn?
Wilder exercised a rematch clause to trigger the third match following Fury’s victory via TKO on Feb. 22
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The planned third boxing match between lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder faces the tough task of earning more money than previous fights between the two archrivals.
Wilder exercised a rematch clause to trigger the third match following Fury’s victory via technical knockout on Feb. 22. The fight is expected to take place on July 18 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, according to multiple reports.
Marketing for the third fight will lack a key advantage compared to the second, which was billed as a grudge match between Wilder and Fury following an initial bout that ended in a controversial draw. Wilder-Fury II generated somewhere between 800,000 and 850,000 pay-per-view buys in North America, matching pre-fight expectations, according to The Athletic.
Fury’s promoter, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, said the second bout would have to sell in that range to break even against promotional costs. PPV buy results are expected to fall far short of Arum’s claim that the bout had "had a shot" to exceed two million buys.
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With 850,000 pay-per-view buys in North America at $79.99 per order, the Wilder-Fury II likely approached at least $68 million in PPV revenue alone. The fight also broke the gate record for a heavyweight fight in Nevada, generating $16.9 million in ticket sales.
Fury and Wilder were each guaranteed $28 million for their second match, plus additional income tied to pay-per-view sales.
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The second fight easily outearned the first, which drew just 325,000 PPV buys.
Regardless of how well the third fight sells, Fury is already guaranteed a larger share than Wilder. As the winner of the second match, Fury is entitled to a 60 percent split of the purse.