Tyson Fury’s UK promoter Frank Warren says the postponement of the WBC heavyweight champion’s trilogy clash with Deontay Wilder on July 24 is “very frustrating” but they must accept the delay.
Fury and a number of his team including assistant coach Andy Lee, sparring partner Joseph Parker and featherweight Isaac Lowe all tested positive for Covid-19 this week, nixing the event and plunging the heavyweight division into further chaos.
With his last appearance a seven-round trouncing of Wilder in their February 2020 rematch, Fury is facing a 20-month ring absence by the time their third meeting takes place. Warren says everyone has no option but to take the delay on the chin.
“It’s looking [like] some time in October, which is a great shame it’s been postponed, but it is what it is,” Hall of Fame promoter Warren told BT Sport.
“Unfortunately, they in the camp and [Fury] got tested positive for Covid. There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s the times we live in, so the fight is postponed. Pushed back.
“Very frustrating. Really frustrating for Tyson. By the time he gets into the ring, he will have been out for nearly 20 months. That’s a long, long time.”
None of the four major heavyweight championship belts have been defended this year, as yet, following the collapse of the undisputed title clash between Fury and WBA Super, WBO and IBF champion Anthony Joshua in May.
Fury-Joshua, of course, fell through after an arbitrator ruled that the ‘Gypsy King’ must face old rival Wilder for a previously contracted trilogy fight. The Covid-19 outbreak in Fury’s camp then intervened, postponing their July 24 clash to October at the earliest. Joshua, meanwhile, is scheduled to face WBO No.1 contender Oleksandr Usyk on September 25 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.