As BoxingScene.com reported on Tuesday, Tyson Fury will still meet Deontay Wilder a third time –– but it won’t happen in the summer.
The WBC heavyweight champion Fury, who dethroned Alabama native Wilder when the pair met in their rematch back in February, had been set to face the American once more in the next third of the year.
But Bob Arum, the Top Rank chairman who looks after Fury Stateside, told ESPN on Tuesday night that the trilogy outing between the pair will be pushed back from its proposed date of July 18.
The anticipation is that the fight will now happen in the autumn due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Wilder, who didn’t just lose his green and gold world title in the demolition at the hands of England’s Fury but also his unbeaten record, took advantage of his contractual ability as the loser to initiate a third fight.
‘The Bronze Bomber’ was down twice and being battered by ‘The Gypsy King’ Fury until his corner threw in the towel to end things in the seventh round.
The third fight between the two -- after Fury's win in February and their December 2018 majority draw -- was planned for July 18 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The news of the July postponement of Fury vs. Wilder III almost certainly puts paid to any hopes of an all British heavyweight title fight for every belt between Fury and WBA Super, WBO, IBF and IBO world champion Anthony Joshua happening any time soon.
If that fight does come down, former two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi is picking Fury to come out on top.
"I think Fury is the best heavyweight in the world, so I think Fury [would beat Joshua]; I'd love to see it," Malignaggi told Fighthype.com.
"I think Joshua is a guy who wants to learn and is passionate about his boxing. I think Fury is more technically gifted, he's a 6'9 guy who moves around like an athlete, it's very difficult. He's very, very nimble and it's hard to catch up to him and when you do you're like a midget compared to him. You can't be rough with him because he's too big and strong, he's a difficult guy to deal with. His skills [are great] but he's such a big guy and he's a very intelligent guy.
"If you talk boxing with him, he's a very intelligent guy; he understands what he has to do and has not got to do, what he is and what he isn't. He can go in against the next top guy and perform well right away. He did it in the Klitschko fight, then he disappeared. Then he gets brought in as an opponent against Wilder, takes on a couple of comeback fights and doesn't look great.
"But he looked great in the first Wilder fight, then he did it again. he looked lackadaisical in the Otto Wallin fight, gets cut and you think maybe he's not at this level, but sure enough he performed in the second Wilder fight; he's too smart for his own good."