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Tyson Fury: Don’t blame me for Covid delay to Wilder trilogy fight

Tyson Fury’s index finger traced the condensation running down a can of Heineken in the hundred and ten degree heat here.

Then he took a long swig to fortify himself for seeing off critics and conspiracy theorists following the bout of Covid which forced the postponement of his world heavyweight trilogy fight with Deontay Wilder.

Tyson Fury (right) was forced to delay his trilogy fight against Deontay Wilder (left)

‘My first alcoholic beverage since Christmas Day,’ he announced as he slammed the tin on the table. ‘I’ve done pretty much nothing except train my butt off since I smashed Deontay.’

That was 17 months ago in their first rematch and it will be eleven more weeks out of the ring by the time the Gypsy King and the Bronze Bomber meet again on the Vegas Strip, on the rescheduled date of October 9.

That was also a rebuttal of cynical accusations that he welcomed yet another delay after the already interminable diversions via contract litigation and coronavirus isolation.

‘I couldn’t have been more ready for next Saturday,’ said Fury. ‘After that I’d have been just as ready to knock out Anthony Joshua in December.’

That Battle Of Britain for the undisputed world heavyweight championship feels as if it’s been in the wind since the retirement of Lennox Lewis, the last wearer of all the available belts. Here and now it seems like a mirage evaporating into the Nevada desert.

No-one was more frustrated than Fury with the July 24th cancellation. With the possible exception of Wilder who accused him of being unprofessional and irresponsible.

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‘I’m the last person to blame,’ says Fury of the virus which spread through his team. ‘I don’t have a large entourage, unlike most world champions with all their ass-licking hangers on. Since coming back into full time camp I hadn’t been anywhere other than my new house here and the Top Rank gym. Nor had my team.

‘The only people whose movements I couldn’t completely control were my sparring partners, who change. They came in and out of the bubble and everyone knows this town is full of Covid. I suspect we caught it from one of them.’

As for the latest of Deontay Wilder’s allegations against him over the course of their elongated triple head-banger, he says: ‘Mentally he’s a broken man. I destroyed him last time in seven rounds and I will ruin him quicker next time. Inside five. He knows that if we fought ten times I would win ten times.’

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