Tyson Fury against David Benavidez? Terence Crawford against Ryan Garcia as a replacement for Fury–Anthony Joshua? Two posts on Mike Coppinger’s X account floated those possibilities Friday, leaving boxing fans wondering what was going on with the account.
The first post claimed Fury–Joshua could fall apart and that Crawford–Ryan was under consideration as a replacement. A later post added Fury–Benavidez as “another possibility.” Neither matchup has been independently confirmed, and the posts alone are no basis for saying Fury–Joshua is off. The Ring had not publicly addressed the posts as of Friday evening.
The breakdown in the heavyweight negotiations comes straight from Coppinger on X:
“Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua could be called off due to issues, according to sources, and a replacement fight between Terence Crawford and Ryan Garcia is being considered.
Another possibility: Tyson Fury-David Benavidez.”
Either Coppinger got his account compromised by a bored troll, or desperate promoters are feeding him unfiltered fantasy matchmaking straight out of a video game.
Floating Tyson Fury against David Benavidez is pure comedy. Benavidez only recently moved up to cruiserweight. Proposing that he jump straight past cruiserweight to share a ring with a 270-pound, six-foot-nine heavyweight is absurd on its face. It makes zero boxing sense, zero physical sense, and belongs in the bargain bin of panic-driven rumors.
What this really reveals is that the entire Cardiff December 11th date is in absolute freefall. When organizers go from trying to save Fury vs Joshua, to pitching Terence Crawford against Ryan at welterweight, to suddenly throwing Benavidez into the heavyweight division against Fury within minutes, you are watching outright chaos behind the scenes.
Someone inside those promotional rooms is throwing darts at a roster board hoping something sticks before the event disintegrates completely. Coppinger tweeting that nonsense out without laughing shows either total access-broker compliance or that somebody hijacked his phone in the press room.
No contracts exist for a substitute bout, but the fact that organizers are entertaining Crawford against Ryan proves Fury vs Joshua is on life support. British promoters love dragging negotiations out until the entire event unravels. Cardiff fans booked hotels for a titanic domestic battle.
Now they might get offered a freak-show mismatch thrown together at the eleventh hour. Ryan wiped out Conor Benn in two rounds, taking the WBC welterweight title at 147 pounds. Crawford retired last December after campaigning at super middleweight. Crawford walks around far bigger, carries superior technical skills, and possesses an iron chin.
Dragging Ryan into a ring against an elite fighter who campaigned at 168 pounds borders on malpractice. Turki Alalshikh has toyed with this idea, but paying both men enough to ignore the vast weight disparity will require exorbitant funds. Staging Crawford vs. Ryan inside a stadium in Wales makes zero promotional sense.
British ticket buyers bought into a decade of heavyweight drama. They have no interest in paying premium prices to watch two Americans settle an artificial catchweight experiment. Organizers need to stop floating absurd backup options and force their heavyweights to sign, or refund the public and pack up shop.
American boxing fans would jump at Terence Crawford vs Ryan over Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua any day of the week. Fury and Joshua have spent five years boring the public with broken promises, manufactured drama, and endless promotional theater. Stateside fans stopped caring about their stale domestic feud ages ago.
Dropping Crawford and Ryan into Cardiff never made a lick of sense. Welsh sports fans bought tickets to witness two British heavyweights collide in a stadium, not an all-American blockbuster flown across the Atlantic.
Packing that event up and shipping it directly to New York solves the entire problem overnight. Madison Square Garden or Barclays Center would sell out in minutes on December 11th. Ryan is the biggest draw in American boxing, fresh off demolishing Conor Benn in two rounds. Putting Ryan in the ring against Crawford in the fight capital of the world gives the US audience a massive pay-per-view spectacle in prime time.
New York athletic commissions know how to run giant events on short notice. Promoters would get full houses, high gate receipts, and ideal American broadcast hours instead of forcing US viewers to watch an afternoon heavyweight snoozer from the UK. If Fury and Joshua blow up their Cardiff date with their usual squabbling, bringing Crawford and Ryan to Manhattan is the only logical move.