Tyson Fury vs. Mariusz Wach fight predictions, odds, card, start time and date

Tyson Fury returns to the ring on Friday, though it’s easy to understand why boxing fans may be unaware of Fury’s return, however. Fury will face former world championship contender Mariusz Wach in Pattaya, Thailand. The fight will not be available via broadcast or streaming.

Fury decided to take this fight in response to Anthony Joshua taking a tune-up fight with Kristian Prenga, which will take place on Saturday. With Fury and Joshua expected to face off in 2026 after years of teasing the biggest fight in British boxing history, Joshua’s decision to take a tune-up fight, his first trip to the ring since he was involved in a tragic car accident in Nigeria that left two of his friends dead, drove Fury to do the same.

While Joshua should handle Prenga fairly easily, there’s a bit more intrigue in that fight than in Fury vs. Wach. Prenga is 20-1, suffering his lone career loss in just his fifth career fight. By contrast, Wach is 3-7 in his 10 most recent fights.

Wach’s career high point came when he challenged to become unified heavyweight champion. Against Wladimir Klitschko. In 2012.

That night, Wach won a single round on just one of the three official scorecards. He would pick up a few low-level wins before suffering a knockout loss to Alexander Povetkin, kicking off a three-fight losing skid that included a knockout loss to Martin Bakole.

Wach’s career is defined by losing to basically any heavyweight of note he faced, with other losses coming to Dillian Whyte, Arslanbek Makhmudov, Moses Itauma and even Tyson’s cousin, Hughie Fury.

Dating back to the fight with Klitschko, Wach has produced a 12-13 record.

Fury ended his most recent retirement in April, defeating Makhmudov by wide decision. That return came after Fury suffered back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk, the first two losses of Fury’s storied career.

While another fight with Usyk seemed unlikely, Fury’s attention turned to a fight with Joshua, which has been teased for the majority of both men’s period of relevance at the championship level, but never came to fruition.

Netflix has been running ads for Joshua vs. Fury, though the fight doesn’t yet have a date or location. While it only makes sense for the fight to be held in London, event curfews in the city have clashed with Netflix’s desire to stream the fight during American prime time hours.

In typical Fury fashion, he also recently cast doubt on the Joshua fight happening at all while dismissing the idea of attending Joshua vs. Prenga for a post-fight face-off.

“I’m going home,” Fury said. “I’ve got about as much interest in Anthony Joshua vs. some Pringles as I have of spewing that all over the floor. No, I’m going home. I’m not interested in AJ and his mate boxing. … You can send out as many signals as you want [that the fight is happening]. You’ve been told for 10 years that it’s happening. It hasn’t happened, has it? So, don’t hold your breath.”

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s fight, Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn said “We have our doubts about whether Fury will turn up, especially if AJ looks great on Saturday night.”

One thing is for sure: a Fury shock loss to Wach would likely bring any talk of Fury vs. Joshua to a quick end.

Prediction

Truthfully, it’s hard to imagine Wach has a chance to pull off the upset. He has spent his career losing to nearly every fighter he has faced above the club level and is well over a decade removed from his best days in the ring.

Of course, Fury has a history of nearly losing to men he was expected to handle convincingly. There was the 2019 fight with Otto Wallin, where Fury suffered deep cuts over his eyes that could have led to a TKO loss. And then there was the Francis Ngannou fight in 2023, where Fury was knocked down by the former UFC heavyweight champ and escaped with a narrow split decision victory.

Despite Fury’s tendency to show up at less than his best against “easy” opposition, Wach doesn’t have the tools or power to spring a surprise. He might, however, be able to survive to the final bell if Fury isn’t interested in putting his foot on the gas. Pick: Tyson Fury via UD