The much-anticipated trilogy fight between WBC heavyweight champion of the world Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) and former titlist Deontay Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) has been postponed to 9th October, in the wake of Fury testing negative for COVID-19.
Fury vs Wilder 3 became a reality after much back and forth between the teams of the two superstar pugilists. From his previous target, an undisputed heavyweight championship clash against unified champion Anthony Joshua, Fury had to turn his focus back on former rival Wilder after the latter won the arbitration case for the trilogy bout.
The beating will have to wait: Tyson Fury confident on smashing ‘Big Dosser’ Wilder on 9th October
The fight was originally targeted on 24th July at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, after Fury tested positive for COVID-19, days after refusing to take the second dose of the vaccine, the fight had gone into uncertainty.
The good news is, ‘The Gypsy King’ has now returned a negative test result on Tuesday and has been medically cleared for the trilogy fight, which is now pushed back to 9th October but the venue remains unchanged. Tickets can be purchased at www.tmobilearena.com, while the previous tickets will be honoured for the rescheduled date.
The Briton, who recently won the ESPYs 2021 Best Boxer Of The Year award, will be given a chance to fly back to his home country.
“I wanted nothing more than to smash the ‘Big Dosser’ on July 24, but I guess the beating will have to wait,” Fury, who had to halt his training for some days due to his illness, said after the announcement of the postponed date.
“Make no mistake, I will be back and better than ever. We will fight Oct. 9, and I will knock him spark out!” the 32-year-old added.
Meanwhile, some fans believe that the postponement was not because of Fury’s COVID-19 contraction (which some still believe to be a stunt as he was seen in a casino last week) and that the postponement is due to an assumed higher number of estimated PPV sales in October.
“I’m glad that we could all agree a new date quickly for Tyson to defend his title,” Hall of Fame boxing Promoter and Queensberry Promotions owner Frank Warren acknowledged, “Tyson is a fighting man and I know how frustrated he is that he can’t compete this month. It’s such a shame to lose a fight of this magnitude to COVID.”
“That said, the extra time he gets to prepare is just going to ensure he’s bigger and better than ever before – I’ve never been more certain that Tyson is going to deliver a spectacular performance and remain the number one Heavyweight on the planet!” added Warren.
