WBC heavyweight champion of the world Tyson Fury is yet to make his appearance in the squared circle. Even still, the Briton’s sheer charisma in the sport of boxing has earned him the ESPYs 2021 Best Boxer Of The Year award.
Fury, a former unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight as well as lineal heavyweight champion, who has remained unbeaten in his 31 professional bouts, paced ahead of unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez as well as unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez to secure the award.
The 32-year-old Briton announced the news on his official Twitter handle yesterday.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank everybody that voted for me for the 2021 Best Boxer Of The Year Award #espys #espywards @ESPNRingside @ESPNUK @espn @ESPYS Amid some stiff competition and contenders, a real honour. God Bless”, Fury posted.
Fury vs Wilder 3 targeted for October
While The Gypsy King bags awards, his much awaited return to the squared circle remains in jeopardy once again. First, Fury’s undisputed heavyweight title fight against Anthony Joshua was chucked after former rival Deontay Wilder won his arbitration case for the trilogy fight.
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And now, the faceoff against Wilder, which was scheduled on 24th July in Las Vegas, is also met with a postponement after he tested positive for COVID-19, days after he initially rejected the second dose of the vaccine, concerning the possible side effects that could have hampered his preparations for the fight.
The fight is now expected to take place in October- a straight one year and eight months of gap since both Fury and Wilder’s last outing against each other in their rematch back in February last year, when Fury clinched the coveted WBC title from the “Bronze Bomber”.
“He got vaccinated in Miami. He got the first shot,” promoter Bob Arum said in an interview with Boxing Scene, “and then he said he didn’t wanna get the second shot because he didn’t wanna get sick [from the vaccination] so close to the fight. So, he got Covid instead.”
“I knew he had one shot, and I was hoping it was Johnson & Johnson (which requires only one shot compared to the others). But it wasn’t. It was Moderna,” Arum added.
