Tyson Fury has been sensationally accused of "buying time" by Deontay Wilder's fiancee Telli Swift after testing positive for coronavirus.
Fury's trilogy bout with Wilder, originally scheduled for July 24, had to be postponed because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Briton's camp on July 6.
And now, Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) will defend his WBC and Ring magazine titles in a rematch against Wilder in the main event of a Top Rank show on October 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada, ESPN's Mike Coppinger said Friday on Twitter.
Coppinger also confirmed reports that Fury and a number of his camp returned positive tests for coronavirus after taking a PCR test earlier this month but has been given the all clear by his doctor to travel back to the UK.
"Tyson Fury was PCR-tested for COVID on July 5 and received the positive result the following day," Coppinger said in the post on Twitter. "He had the first vaccine shot (but not the second) and experienced mild symptoms.
"He tested negative this past Tuesday and was cleared by doctors for travel shortly after several of Fury’s camp members who also tested positive for COVID travelled back to the U.K. earlier this week."
However, Swift isn't entirely convinced Fury's third fight with Wilder, currently scheduled for October 9, will go ahead, with the US-based Filipino model claiming he is simply making up a list of excuses to avoid facing her fiancé.
The 34-year-old told TMZ: "You've trained so hard, blood, sweat, and tears and then for someone to have Covid, when Deontay’s fight with torn biceps, broken fingers, burns on his arms, and he still fought.
"I just feel like with Covid and you have 16 days until the fight, he should still be able to fight and make it happen.
"I don’t think that he’s ready. I think he’s buying time, and I just feel like he feels Deontay is at the best looking-wise."
Swift and Wilder have been engaged since 2018. Swift recently visited The Bronze Bomber in his training camp in Alabama - and was very impressed by what she saw.
She added: "I've seen Deontay in camp; his head movement is amazing, his defense is amazing, so I just feel that Fury's buying time. They say sometime in October, but who knows?
"Deontay's more motivated than ever. He eats, sleeps, lives Tyson Fury. He's ready for Tyson.
"[Fury] was very careless and he didn't do what he was supposed to do. What we were told he did, he didn't do. I don't believe anything he says, and that's that."
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