Bob Arum recently sat down with iFL TV to discuss, among other things, Tyson Fury’s next bout. Though the WBC previously ordered “The Gypsy King” to face either interim champ Dillian Whyte or unified champion Oleksandr Usyk, Arum claims that neither of them are on the table, as Usyk is due for a rematch with Anthony Joshua and Whyte’s terms were too “greedy.”
This would ordinarily result in a purse bid, but Whyte’s ongoing lawsuit against the WBC puts a wrench in that. Arum says that he received dispensation from Mauricio Sulaiman to put Fury (31-0-1, 22 KO) in a non-title fight this coming March, naming Andy Ruiz Jr. (34-2, 22 KO) and Robert Helenius (31-3, 20 KO) as potential opponents.
The plan would be to stage a Ruiz fight in Vegas and a Helenius fight in Manchester. The former sits at #3 in the WBC rankings, the latter at #13.
The two have very different momentums at the moment. Ruiz faced some early adversity before cruising past Chris Arreola in May, while Helenius is coming off of two dominant victories over Adam Kownacki. The iron’s about as hot as it’ll get for the 37-year-old “Nordic Nightmare” and Ruiz may prefer to further acclimate to trainer Eddy Reynoso before going for gold again, so don’t be surprised if Helenius gets the call.
If the Usyk fight’s not feasible at the moment, I’m honestly just happy with whatever gets Fury in the ring. He’s lost too much of his prime already.