By: Hans Themistode
The boxing world was immediately left deflated when the news broke.
With Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder set to settle the score on July 24th, fans were forced to wait as it was revealed that Fury contracted COVID-19. While many of the WBC/Ring Magazine’s fans wished him a speedy recovery, heavyweight contender Michael Hunter raised a suspicious eyebrow to the entire event.
Having spent plenty of time in training camp with Fury as he prepared for Wilder, Hunter was given an up-close seat to what took place behind the scenes. Although many regard the British native as the best heavyweight in the world, Hunter was left unimpressed with what he witnessed behind closed doors.
“He wasn’t doing too well in the gym,” said Hunter during an interview with FightHype.com.
There’s been an ongoing belief from team Wilder that Fury simply wasn’t ready to face him in the ring. The two originally faced off in February of 2020 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. While many were expecting a close contest, Fury bullied Wilder to the tune of two knockdowns and a subsequent stoppage win in the seventh round.
Since then, Wilder has been hard at work as he looks to regain his world title with new head trainer, Malik Scott. Their contest has officially been rescheduled and is set to take place on October 9th.
Wilder, 35, has unapologetically called out Fury and believes both he and his team are flat out lying about contracting the virus.
“Yo bro Malik Scott, say it ain’t so,” said Wilder on his Instagram account. “Not the COVID-19 lie. They’re going to hell for that one. Oct 9th, can not come any faster.”
Despite Wilder’s claims, Hunter won’t go as far as to say that the British native is lying. However, he is a bit incredulous about the entire turn of events.
“He wasn’t doing too well in the gym but not enough to call the fight off. To me, it was kind of funny because the first day they said somebody on his team got COVID and then the next thing we heard was Tyson got COVID so I thought it was a little fishy.”
