Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder III might not happen this year.
Promoter Bob Arum told Fury, his client, that the heavyweight title fight would not take place until November or December – at the earliest – as a result of the coronavirus shutdown, according to Sports Illustrated Now.
Organizers were rumored to be targeting October for the fight but the uncertainties of COVID-19 make planning next to impossible
Fury battered and then knocked out Wilder in the seventh round of their rematch on Feb. 22. Not long afterward, Wilder exercised a clause in their contract that allowed for a third fight.
They were originally expected to fight sometime in the summer but then the pandemic kicked in, which brought sports to a halt.
Arum has been among those promoters considering boxing cards without spectators but he has said that Fury-Wilder III is too big to take place behind closed doors.
Fury-Wilder II, which took place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, generated a live gate of roughly $17 million.
Bob Arum told @SInow he informed Tyson Fury that a third fight between Fury and Deontay Wilder would not take place until "November/December" at the earliest. Gate for Fury-Wilder II accounted for $17 million of the total revenue.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) April 28, 2020