Fury beat Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 to become IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO, Lineal and The Ring heavyweight champion but he gave up the belts after being mentally unwell in 2016 for the re-match. From that point until he beat Wilder to gain the WBC belt I think Fury did not hold any titles.
I think you are right, re-match clauses are there for champions to defend their interest and Wilder was champion going in to the first fight. If Wilder wins there will not be an immediate 4th fight because Fury will not be in a negotiating position. In that case the only way Fury vs Wilder 4 can go ahead is if Wilder wins fight III and if Fury becomes WBC number one contender again.
All these ifs and buts aside, Fury should win the fight then line up to be unified undisputed world heavyweight champion and to be honest he deserves to hold all the belts, make at least one defence then retire. I think having Wilder as his next fight then the winner of Joshua vs Usyk II as his penultimate opponent tu unify the belts then make one defence before retiring undefeated it would a great end to his career.
After that Fury can go in to broadcasting because all the sports and media channels around the world will be lining up to have him as their presenter.
When they fought the first and second time Wilder was WBC champion at the time but Fury to my knowledge had no titles. Can you clarify which title Fury held at the time?
I agree about adding re-match clauses, they always favour the champion as it gives an opportunity for them to regain their titles in the event of a loss. The way Lennox Lewis punished and defeated Hasim Rahman in the re-match was a perfect example of how a superior fighter can get caught by a perfect punch and get knocked out then come back and just show the world how great a fighter he is by winning the re-match in perfect style.
I guess I was mistaken. I thought he had several belts on the line going into that fight but I guess they were vacated? I think only the current champion's can have rematch clauses. Otherwise the challenger would just invoke them after a loss.