After reports of a COVID outbreak among WBC Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury’s team, his latest fight with Deontay Wilder has been postponed to October.
According to Mike Coppinger of ESPN, the hopeful date for the next Fury-Wilder fight is October 9:
This story just adds to the never ending saga that is Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury.
After their first showdown in December 2018 ended in a draw, a rematch between the two was set for February 22, 2020. In that fight, Tyson Fury defeated Deontay Wilder by seventh-round TKO ending Wilder’s unbeaten run and his five-year WBC Heavyweight title reign.
More background on lead up to Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder III
Wilder was in line for a rematch following his defeat at the hands of Fury. Negotiations were underway to make the fight. However, they would fall through prompting Fury to pursue other options.
This was unacceptable for Wilder, who believed he was entitled to another fight leading to him taking legal action with a decision to be handed down by an arbitrary judge.
In the meantime, Fury began a process to make a fight against unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua to crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era and the first undisputed champion since 1999. That fight was reportedly made official on May 17 to take place on August 14, with Fury announcing it himself in a video on Twitter.
However, that same day, the arbitrary judge looking over Deontay Wilder’s case ruled in his favor ordering for a third fight to take place by September at the earliest. There was an opportunity for Fury to pay Wilder to step aside and put the fight on hold, but both men refused and the fight was made official for July 24.
Tyson Fury’s father, John Fury, opposed the switch from fighting Anthony Joshua to Deontay Wilder saying this in an interview:
He was fighting AJ, I want him to fight AJ. I have no interest in Deontay Wilder. So why’s he got to fight Deontay Wilder?
John Fury, Tyson Fury’s father, on Deontay Wilder bout, per The BBC
Tyson Fury was also criticized by Matchroom Sports’ chairman Eddie Hearn and Anthony Joshua with the former claiming he never really wanted the fight and the latter saying he should not have negotiated for a fight with him knowing an arbitration was ongoing. This led to a Twitter exchange between Fury and Joshua that included the Fury challenging him to a bare knuckle fight.
The build to the trilogy fight between Fury and Wilder was an intense one highlighted by a press conference in which both fighters had a whopping five minute long face off doing nothing but staring at each other.
Wilder made pointed comments about his intentions going into the fight saying, “This closes the chapter of me and Fury. My mind is very violent right now and I’m trying to end his career—and other things as well, I’mma let you fill in the blank.”
