Tyson Fury says he has “moved on” from Deontay Wilder and will now target a fight in the UK in December instead.
‘The Gypsy King’ has called time on his long-awaited trilogy fight with ‘The Bronze Bomber’ rather than push the bout into 2021.
Instead now Fury (30-0-1) will look to fight a different opponent in the UK in December. That would act as the warm-up for a potential superfight with Anthony Joshua next summer.
“I was looking forward to smashing Wilder again. A quick and easy fight,” Fury told Mike Coppinger of 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.”
Fury vs Wilder 3 was initially tabbed for July, and then October. But when Saturday December 19 was also cancelled, Fury decided it was time to move on.
“Then they asked me if I would agree to push it to December. I agreed to Dec. 19,” he said.
“Then 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.”
Stacked heavyweight schedule
If Fury does indeed fight in the UK in December, the likely date appears to be Saturday December 5. It would add to an already-stacked heavyweight schedule.
WBO mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk fights Dereck Chisora on October 31, and Dillian Whyte rematches Alexander Povetkin on November 21 (both on Sky Sports Box Office and DAZN).
Then unbeaten British prospects Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce lock horns on November 28 on BT Sport 1.
Finally, Joshua is expected to put his IBF, WBA and WBO world titles on the line against Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev on December 12.
Should Fury win any December bout and Joshua overcome Pulev, the path to their showdown would appear to be clear.
There is one other potential fly in the ointment though – namely Usyk. He expects an immediate shot at Joshua if he overcomes Chisora.
