COVID-19 outbreak could postpone Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder III

A COVID-19 outbreak in Tyson Fury's camp could postpone the boxer's highly anticipated fight against Deontay Wilder, Mike Coppinger of ESPN reported Thursday.

"We continue to monitor the health status of Tyson and his team, and the status of the event has not changed to date," promotional company Top Rank said in a statement.

The fight, marking the third meeting between Fury and Wilder, is currently slated to take place July 24 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and be broadcast on ESPN+ pay-per-view. Coppinger suggested that a rescheduled bout likely wouldn't take place until September as not to interfere with the Manny Pacquiao-Errol Spence Jr. pay-per-view fight on Aug. 21.

While there could be a delay, Coppinger points out promoters will likely still do everything in their power to make the Fury-Wilder bout happen. The second fight between the two heavy hitters, which took place in 2020, brought in nearly 900,000 pay-per-view buys and set a record for the largest gate ever at a Nevada heavyweight competition at $16,916,440. 

The first meeting between Fury and Wilder in December 2018 made headlines when it controversially ended in a draw. When they rematched in February 2020, Fury emerged victorious with a TKO in the seventh round.