Deontay Wilder isn’t concerned about Tyson Fury withdrawing from their third fight a second time. (photo by Ryan Hafey)
Wilder won’t worry about things he cannot control as he winds down another training camp for his shot at redemption October 9 in Las Vegas. The former WBC champion nevertheless expressed extreme skepticism regarding his rival’s COVID-19 diagnosis during his recent appearance on “The PBC Podcast.”
Wilder is convinced younger sparring partners “were piecing him up” prior to a third fight that was scheduled to take place July 24 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. According to Wilder, the unbeaten WBC champion’s training troubles, not COVID-19, are what caused him to withdraw from their ESPN/FOX Sports Pay-Per-View event two weeks in advance.
“I can’t control what they’re doing on their side,” Wilder told co-hosts Kenneth Bouhairie and Michael Rosenthal for an episode that recently dropped on premierboxingchampions.com. “I can’t control whether this is a lie or it’s the truth. You know what I’m saying? Because I don’t believe none of it, nothing that they’ve done. Anybody that’s been trying to run since July, anybody that’s paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to not fight, you can’t believe that person. You know? They trying to run away from it – I’m running to it. When it’s like that, you can’t believe nothing. You know, and honestly, I don’t believe he had no COVID. You know, look at his actions. Look at what he’s done. Been at different places and stuff like that. He definitely don’t act like it.”
The 35-year-old Wilder was bothered more by what he considers Fury’s fake excuse because of the tragic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic than the postponement itself.
“My only thing that upset me is that it’s so many people out here, even family members, that actually that had COVID and actually f—— that passed away from this sh!t,” Wilder said. “And for somebody to play around with it, I don’t take it light. That’s no fun and games in that. You know, anybody that had a loved one that had it and had someone pass away from it, they don’t take that lightly, for somebody to play around with this, and stuff like that. Because I truly don’t believe he had it. And a lot of other people don’t believe it as well.”
The 33-year-old Fury returned to his home in England after revealing he had contracted COVID-19. He later resumed training there and will complete camp in Las Vegas, where he was training when he pulled out of the July 24 fight.
Manchester’s Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) is listed as a 3-1 favorite by the William Hill sports book to defeat Wilder again in their third showdown. Fury dropped Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) in the third and fifth rounds and stopped the Tuscaloosa, Alabama, native in the seventh round of their WBC championship rematch in February 2020 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.