By: Sean Crose
“I couldn’t have been more ready for next Saturday,” lineal and WBC heavyweight champion of the world Tyson Fury has told the Daily Mail. “After that I’d have been just as ready to knock out Anthony Joshua in December.” Fury was indeed supposed to meet Deontay Wilder for the third time in the ring this Saturday night in Vegas. The fight has been pushed back until October 9th, however, due to a Corona virus outbreak in Fury’s camp.
‘I’m the last person to blame,’ Fury said of the outbreak. ‘I don’t have a large entourage, unlike most world champions with all their ass-licking hangers on. Since coming back into full time camp I hadn’t been anywhere other than my new house here and the Top Rank gym. Nor had my team.” Fury then went on to indicate he felt a sparring partner could have been responsible for bringing in Covid.
‘The only people whose movements I couldn’t completely control were my sparring partners, who change,” he said. “They came in and out of the bubble and everyone knows this town is full of Covid. I suspect we caught it from one of them.” Now, however, Fury insists that things are different. ‘We will strictly control the access for sparring partners and increase testing,” he said. “No masseur. No fitness coach. No dietician. Even my two brothers will have to wait to join me until fight week here in Vegas.”
Fury and Wilder first met in the ring in 2018. Fury seemed to be winning the fight entering the twelfth, but a thunderous Wilder shot sent Fury to the mat. To his lasting credit, Fury got up, but the bout was ultimately ruled a draw. They met again just over a year later. This time, however, Fury – who was now trained by Sugar Hill Steward – completely dominated his man, stopping Wilder in the seventh. Covid prevented a third fight from happening and it looked like Fury would be facing fellow titlist Anthony Joshua in August. An arbitrator, however, ruled that Fury would indeed have to face Wilder again by September. Now, however, the world will have to wait until October for Fury-Wilder 3 to become a fruition.
“Mentally he’s a broken man,” Fury says of Wilder, who has proven to be no big fan. “I destroyed him last time in seven rounds and I will ruin him quicker next time. Inside five. He knows that if we fought ten times I would win ten times.”