The long-overdue WBC heavyweight title fight between champion Tyson Fury 30-0-1 (21) and challenger Deontay Wilder 42-1-1 (41) appears to be in jeopardy after a reported Covid-19 outbreak in Fury’s camp.
Mike Coppinger from ESPN broke the news, posting on Twitter: “Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder 3 will likely be postponed after a COVID-19 outbreak in the heavyweight champ’s camp. No official determination yet on the fight proceeding as planned for July 24 in Las Vegas on ESPN+ PPV.”
Fury’s US-based co-promoter Top Rank issued a short statement that read: “We continue to monitor the health status of Tyson and his team and the status of the event has not changed to date.”
Earlier this year Top Rank boss Bob Arum claimed Fury was fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Fury and Wilder fought to a draw in Los Angeles in December 2019 before rematching in Las Vegas in February last year. Fury won that bout by seventh-round knockout and Wilder enacted the immediate rematch clause in his contract.
When the trilogy fight was twice postponed, Team Fury claimed the timeframe for the fight to happen had passed and moved on to negotiating a fight with WBC, WBO and IBF champion Anthony Joshua 24-1 (22).
In late May an arbitrator ruled in Wilder’s favour with the third fight quickly set for the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 24.
Joshua is expected to defend his titles against WBO mandatory contender Oleksandr Usyk 18-0 (13) in September.
Wilder’s co-trainer Malik Scott is still working towards that date and says he wouldn’t be surprised if the news was all a ruse.
“We are getting ready to go to work right now and everything remains the same,’” Scott said to ESNews. “We are not going for no bananas in the tail pipe.
“I don’t care what the media report, we are staying zoned in. We about to put in these rounds of sparring, this is a big week for us. Everything is still on course.
“We are dealing with a fighter that I believe nothing he says. We are dealing with a fighter who says he is going to come in the ring at 300lbs. I don’t believe that.
“We are dealing with a fighter who says he and [Conor] McGregor are something like best friends and then McGregor says he doesn’t even know the guy. You just never know with Tyson.
“That type of news didn’t shatter the camp at all. It’s a laughing matter over here. Nothing no one is going to say, no rumours that’s going to get put out is going to stop us from being motivated on the task at hand.
“If this is supposed to be a distraction, we’re not distracted at all. Redemption and retribution is upon us. Deontay Wilder is more than ready.”
