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If there is anything substantive to the rampant speculation on social media regarding Tyson Fury pulling out of his third fight against Deontay Wilder again, it is news to one of his co-promoters.
Bob Arum informed BoxingScene.com that Fury is scheduled to fly from England to Las Vegas on Saturday. He’ll resume training camp there Monday at the gym owned by Arum’s company, Top Rank Inc., until his third showdown with Wilder on October 9 at nearby T-Mobile Arena.
“I talked to him [Tuesday],” Arum said. “He was shouting how great he’s doing, how he’s killing sparring partners. He arrives in Las Vegas on Saturday, this Saturday. He’ll take Sunday off and then he’ll resume training at the Top Rank Gym on Monday. He’s been training twice a day in England. And ‘Sugar Hill’ is over there with him.”
Arum referred to Javan Steward, Fury’s head trainer and the nephew of late legend Emanuel Steward.
The 6-feet-9, 270-pound Fury trained at Top Rank’s gym during the summer, until the unbeaten WBC heavyweight champion contracted COVID-19 and withdrew from his July 24 fight with Wilder. Fury returned to his home country while he recovered and began training seriously for this ESPN/FOX Sports pay-per-view main event early in August.
“While he’s been in England, we’ve done a remodel of our gym, so it’ll really be spectacular for him,” Arum said. “Because you’ve gotta keep up. There’s so much new equipment and cardio equipment that we’ve put in. There was a leak in the roof, and that’s been patched up. And the carpets have been cleaned or replaced. So, the gym will look sparkling for the arrival of Tyson Fury.”
Arum also is certain that Fury fully recovered from COVID-19 and will be at 100 percent when encounters Wilder for the third time.
“I went to see him the day after he got diagnosed with COVID [early in July],” Arum said. “At that point, he was drinking a lot of water and having trouble, not breathing, but his lungs were very congested. But he was in, I guess, such good shape that by the end of the week, he was OK. He was troubled that he wouldn’t be OK in that period of time, when I talked to him [two weeks before he was supposed to box Wilder]. But in fact, he was. And he was also concerned because eight people in his camp had come down with COVID, including his chef. That’s why he asked for the postponement. But he’s been doing great.”
The 33-year-old Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) is an approximate 3-1 favorite versus the 35-year-old Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs), according to the William Hill sports book. The Manchester native knocked Wilder to the canvas once apiece in the third and fifth rounds of their rematch, which was stopped in the seventh round by Wilder’s former assistant trainer, Mark Breland, 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.