Heavyweight titleholder Tyson Fury, frustrated by delays in his third fight with Deontay Wilder, told The Athletic that he has “moved on.”
The fight was originally scheduled for July 18 but was postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic and Wilder’s claim that he had surgery on his biceps, which he said he injured during his seventh-round knockout loss to Fury in February. It was rescheduled for Oct. 3 and canceled again. And a third date of Dec. 19 appears to also have been scrapped, leaving the final part of their trilogy up in the air.
Fury plans to fight on Dec. 5 in the U.K., although no opponent has been selected. And the ultimate goal is to face Anthony Joshua in a title-unification bout next year if Joshua beats Kubrat Pulev on Dec. 12.
Fury decided to proceed with the interim fight after Wilder missed a Friday deadline to reschedule their fight once more before the end of the year, The Athletic reported.
“I was looking forward to smashing Wilder again, a quick and easy fight,” Fury told The Athletic. “But Wilder and his team were messing around with the date. They don’t really want to fight the lineal heavyweight champion. They know how it ends.
“The world knows how it will end, with Wilder on his ass again. … They asked me if I would agree to push it to December. I agreed to Dec. 19. They tried to change the date again into next year. I’ve been training, I’m ready.
“When they tried moving off Dec. 19 and pushing to next year, enough was enough. I’ve moved on.”
Meanwhile, Wilder’s manager, Shelly Finkel, responding to initial reports that Fury-Wilder III was off, told WorldBoxingNews.net last week that “it’s simply not true.”
Wilder exercised a rematch clause in the contract for the second fight and plans to go through with the fight, said Finkel, who dismissed the notion that the rematch clause has expired.
“Deontay Wilder is fighting Tyson Fury in December,” Finkel told WBN before the supposed deadline was missed. “We are working on that fight.”
The Athletic reported that sources say Fury is not contractually obligated to fight Wilder next year, apparently meaning that the rematch clause has expired. That evidently opens the door for Fury to fight someone else in December and then taken on Joshua.
Fury said Wilder could “win a few fights” before they meet again.
“I am the best fighter in the world,” he said. “The lineal heavyweight champion. The two-time Ring Magazine heavyweight champion. The WBC heavyweight champion. And before the end of 2021, I will be the only man on this earth with a heavyweight championship belt.”
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