Fury’s third round with Wilder could be held in October
TYSON Fury’s trilogy fight with Deonaty Wilder could now be as late as October, due to the spread of coronavius.
Manchester’s WBC heavyweight champion was due to clash with the American for a third time on July 18 in Las Vegas.
Victory there would set up a blockbuster all-British unification clash with Anthony Joshua, who holds the other three major belts.
But now the showdown with AJ looks set to be ruled out until 2021, with boxing around the world shut down.
And Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren, has ruled out the possibility of the FuryWilder clash being behind closed doors.
“No-one knows what’s happening day to day, all we can do is hope for the best and push it back as far as possible so October looks like the date for the fight,” he said.
“July 18 will not happen,” added Warren.
“The commission in Nevada has said ‘no boxing’ for the foreseeable future and Las Vegas has closed down all the casinos – it’s like a ghost town there.
“A fight between them behind closed doors just won’t happen – these guys are too big names to be fighting behind closed doors.”
Fury, having outboxed Wilder in their first match, only for it to be ruled a draw, made sure in the second bout by stopping the then champion in seven rounds with a stunning display.
And Warren believes that whenever the two fight, there will only be one winner. He said: “Tyson’s got Deontay’s number, even if they fought in 10 years.”
After his win in February, Fury said his career would be ‘completed’ by beating WBA, IBF and WBO champ Joshua and giving heavyweight boxing its first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis held all the belts in 2000.
Joshua is now scheduled to fight Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20, although that fight could also be pushed back to July because the Premier League could still be going on following their delay.
“Tyson’s contractual obligation was to have a third match with Wilder so it’s very difficult to talk about Joshua,” added Warren.
“Tyson’s at home with his family, doing his best to keep fit, but it’s the same for all of us. It is a terrible position everyone is in and we hope it passes soon.”