As fans know, Tyson Fury, along with ten members of his team, has tested positive for the coronavirus and his three-match with Deontay Wilder has been postponed from July 24. According to the man who broke the news of the COVID-19 outbreak in Fury’s camp, Mike Coppinger, the new date is October 9, with the fight to still take place in Las Vegas.
This, then, is quite the delay – getting on for three months in fact. Obviously Wilder will be far from happy, so intent, so desperate, so obsessed with getting revenge over Fury as he is and has been. Some conspiracy theorists out there have already made their feelings clear: that Fury hasn’t really tested positive, that he needed more time to get ready for a frighteningly motivated Wilder, or that poor ticket sales forced a delay. Whatever you believe us up to you. The fact is, we’ve moved into a far more cynical world today, with plenty of people refusing to accept the official line on just about anything.
One question some fans have asked is will the third fight actually happen now? The ruling that Fury had to face Wilder a third time, made by the US judge, ruled that he, Fury, must fight Wilder by September 15. Obviously October 9 is past that date. Will the ruling be null and void, expired if September 15 comes along and the third fight hasn’t taken place? Will Fury be free to move on and fight someone else?
Will Wilder opt to stay put for for the time being, focused only on the third fight, or will Wilder look to take a tune-up, stay busy fight (or get busy fight, Wilder, like Fury now out of action for 17 months and counting) of some kind? This seems unlikely, although Dillian Whyte has offered to step in and face Wilder on July 24.
Fans are pretty upset with the whole world heavyweight title scene right now. We are STILL waiting for the Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk fight to be officially announced. Will this fight really take place on September 25?
As of right now, we are perhaps further away than ever to seeing a big undisputed world heavyweight championship fight – which was something we all were led to believe we would have seen on August 14 in Saudi Arabia. What a frustrating few months it has been for fans of big heavyweight title fights.
I’m willing to bet, though, that absolutely nobody has been abd is as frustrated as Deontay Wilder and his fans and supporters.
How can a fight scheduled for July be moved to October?….. that’s bull