It's looking more like the undisputed fight will never happen now. I've done a long post on the previous page discussing the ins and outs of Fury's side's deception. Here comes another one because it's more annoying the more I think about it.
What interests me is why Arum and Warren have been so deceptive. Look at the network scene and what heavyweights they have signed with each and what do you see? Add the fact that Whyte is STILL waiting for his WBC title shot and think about who he's signed with. It's more than possible that although they might fancy Fury's chances, letting AJ fight for that belt is not a risk any of them were ever prepared to take. Arum doesn't like to gamble and neither does Warren(the PBC are even worse). The gamble is DAZN having all the heavyweight belts would mean all the top fighters would have to go and deal with Eddie if AJ became undisputed or Whyte beat Wilder when that fight was supposed to happen. Long term that would be bad for all of them and DAZN would become an even bigger threat to them. They also share a bitterness towards Eddie so playing him wasn't something they had to think hard about.
On the fighter's side, some believe that the fight itself will be scripted WWE style, cement their legacies by only fighting each other and claiming AJ "doesn't want this smoke". Fury has had his comeback story and undertaker moment. Next Wilder comes back "from the ashe"s and outboxes Fury which "shocks the world". After over 10 years of neglecting his fundimental's and not taking training seriously. He's posting Rocky montages of chopping wood and lifting logs. If that does come to pass, then it would be hard to argue that it doesn't sound like a movie/WWE script. I'm not convinced that Fury would ever give his 0 up, but I wouldn't rule out him retiring on another draw after his next fight. What I hope is Fury wins comfortably and Wilder is out of the picture and Fury does enter the negotiations for the undisputed with AJ again. AJ has to fight Usyk at the very least now though which is no small task.
Fury had to be in on this too IMO because there's no signs of him wanting to challenge the arbitration decision, which could be done, escpecially if the contract had expired. The extension could be disputed but some say Bob was lying that it ever expired. The accusations Wilder made after the 2nd fight which could be dragged up in court and go a long way to justifying Fury's decision not to want to fight him and to keep his belt. They can't force the 3rd fight even without that but it was always likely that Fury would have to pay something in compensation. So as I said before, why did Arum and Fury enter mediation-arbitration in the first place and then make the excuse that they don't want to pay a dime? Nobody knows the terms of the rematch clause, whether the WBC title is part of it and the order in which Fury has to face him etc There is also a claim for a huge loss of earnings that would blow away Wilder's claim. The fact that there was no resistance to this decision, Fury on board with it within hours, "it's legally binding" they are telling us. Okay then nothing you can do huh?... Not go to the courts as you would have done in the first place instead of mediation if you didn't want to pay anything. Likewise Wilder would have gone straight to court too, like Lennox Lewis did straight away when Hasim Raqman didn't want to fight and won. They are all in on this one way or another.