‘He’s not a gate attraction’: Tyson Fury told no one would buy tickets to watch him in the US

The vice president of boxing TV company Premier Boxing Champions, Tim Smith, believes only fighting Deontay Wilder bring Tyson Fury attention in America

Tyson Fury is a heavyweight champion of the world (Getty Images)

Tyson Fury has been warned he is not a big attraction in America and will struggle to be a commercial draw in the US without the pulling power of his former rival Deontay Wilder.

Fury has headlined six fights in the USA, most notably his trilogy of bouts with the American heavy-hitter Wilder, which drew huge crowds both in arenas and on TV.

However, Fury’s more low-key bouts with Tom Schwarz and Otto Wallin were drew less than 10,000 to the surrounding seats on each occasion.

Fury’s next fight is set to be an all-British battle with Dillian Whyte in the UK. But the vice president of boxing TV company Premier Boxing Champions, Tim Smith, believes Fury would struggle to return to the US as a commercial success unless he was to fight Wilder.

God bless Tyson Fury,” Smith said, “nut nobody’s coming to see Tyson Fury as a gate attraction unless he’s fighting Deontay Wilder, no one.

“You know, maybe in England if he fights Anthony Joshua, that’ll be a gate attraction. You know, maybe if he fights Usyk over there, it’s a gate attraction. But in America, who’s coming to see Tyson Fury fight anyone other than Deontay Wilder?”

Meanwhile Fury has stoked the fire with potential rival Oleksandr Usyk, labelling him “a little steroid man”.

A war of words has developed between Fury and British rival Anthony Joshua, who dropped his three world titles to the Ukrainian Usyk at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last year. A future fight with Usyk to decide the undisputed world champion will have to wait until at least the second half of 2022, with Joshua set to rematch Usyk after activating his rematch clause.

And with Fury primed to defend his title against Dillian Whyte, the Gypsy King has taken aim at both rivals.

“You’ve let a little steroid man come up from middleweight and sit above you and take all your belts,” Fury said of Joshua and Usyk. “It will take a real British Lancaster bomber like me to go and relieve the useless little… get the belts and get them back to Britain.”