It’s seeming less and less likely that Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder III will happen this year, if at all.
Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren doesn’t seem to believe the contracted trilogy fight is possible as 2020 speeds to an unsatisfactory conclusion with the Covid-19 Pandemic still casting a shadow on life and the sporting world.
But Fury will fight this year even if the Wilder fight is no longer feasible, according to Warren.
“I don’t know if that fight can get on this year,” Warren told BT Sport. “Promoters on both sides, we have worked very hard to make it happen, but it’s looking like it will not happen. There’s talk about it happening next year. Tyson has been training like a lot of guys, solidly since February, and he wants to fight this year.
“My concern is Tyson’s welfare and well-being, and delivering what he wants, so he will fight this year. Contractual commitments are what they are, but contracts do not go on forever, and if the fight cannot be delivered within the contractual period, Tyson will move on and maybe revisit the fight another time. He will be out this year because that’s what he wants.”
On the Wilder side, the Bronze Bomber’s manager Shelly Finkel told multiple sources on Saturday that the fight will still happen as they have a contract, but there doesn’t seem sufficient money without a capacity live gate or a practical fight date in play.
There is an intriguing possibility that Fury could now fight on December 5 when Warren plans to pit former WBO 175lbs title challenger Anthony Yarde against Commonwealth king Lyndon Arthur at the Albert Hall in London.
But, if WBC heavyweight king Fury is free of his immediate, contractual obligation against Wilder, it speeds up his projected two-fight series with unified champion Anthony Joshua in 2021 when the Pandemic has eased. Joshua must first negotiate a potential banana skin against IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev on December 12.