COVID-HIT FURY OUT OF WILDER CLASH

TYSON FURY’S world heavyweight title trilogy fight with Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas has been called off after the Gypsy King was found to have tested positive for Covid among a number of his team. The multi-million pound July 24 promotion in the T-Mobile Arena on the Vegas Strip is now postponed, probably to early October. That plunges into disarray the already much-delayed plans for WBC champion Fury and his rival world heavyweight title-holder, Anthony Joshua, to meet in a super-fight for the undisputed championship. Fury and AJ were finally scheduled to meet in Saudi Arabia this midwinter, assuming Fury crushed Wilder a second time in Las Vegas and Joshua repelled a mandatory challenge for his belts from Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk in Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium in September. Hopes of salvaging Fury v Wilder III on July 24 were dashed when it was finally admitted that not only three of his camp members, but also Fury himself tested positive for Covid-19. An October fall-back date, also in Vegas, will rule out any chance of Fury facing Joshua in a predicted December showdown in Riyadh.

Chris Eubank’s son Sebastian has drowned at his home in Dubai just a month after becoming a father for the first time, aged 29. Sebastian, the third oldest of Eubank’s five children, was a boxer like his father and fought in light-heavyweight bouts. He was found dead on a beach in the UAE where he lived with wife Salma and son Raheem.