_18.jpg)
Heavyweight contender Deontay Wilder has accused Tyson Fury of doing everything possible to avoid their trilogy fight.
The two rivals are scheduled to collide in a third meeting on July 24 in Las Vegas.
They first met in December 2018 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, with the contest ending in a controversial twelve round split draw. Fury went down twice in the bout.
In February 2020, the rematch took place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas – with Fury dropping Wilder twice in a one-sided seven round stoppage win to capture the WBC world title.
Wilder would then exercise an immediate rematch clause. The third contest suffered several delays, mostly due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Eventually, Fury’s handlers deemed the rematch clause as being expired. In response, Wilder initiated a legal action to enforce the contractual clause for a third fight.
After several months of legal wrangling, an arbitrator ordered Fury to honor the rematch clause and face Wilder by September.
“Now that we have an ETA and location of where we’re about to go, it makes training much more intensified. Now it means something. It’s for certain now,” Wilder told 78SPORTSTV.
“There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. You’ve got to go through me. I’m the hardest puncher in heavyweight history and I’m going to continue to do that.”
According to Wilder, the ‘Gypsy King’ promised to give him a third fight – but then turned around and tried to make a full division unification clash with IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO champion Anthony Joshua.
“Of course, I look at it as a coward way of trying to avoid me. For what reason? We know the reason and he knows the reason,” Wilder said.
“I’m ready to get this title back. We were contractually obligated to have a fight.
“He gave his word. When you do all that – and we have the proof – you’ve got to abide by that. You got to handle the business, and you can’t close the chapter without going through Deontay Wilder.”