Las Vegas, Nevada - The long-awaited rematch between two of the biggest heavyweight boxers in the sport will have to wait a few months longer as a positive Covid-19 test holds up a third fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder.

The news regarding WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury’s (32) positive test was released on Thursday by ESPN’s boxing expert Dan Rafael. This means his summer blockbuster fight against former heavyweight champ Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) will have to be put off until later this year.

The third fight between these two was slated to take place later this month in Vegas on July 24, but now, Wilder will have to wait a little bit longer for some revenge against the man who stopped him during the seventh round of their second fight back in February 2020.

Unfortunately, Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) might not have been the only one in his training camp that tested positive. Several currently unnamed sources claim that Fury is among a handful of individuals who have caught the virus and will likely leave the US for England to at least quarantine.

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John Fury, Tyson’s father, told boxingscene.com that "an unnamed sparring partner was responsible for bringing the infectious disease into training camp."

To give some background, both fighters were under a contract that contained a clause allowing the loser of the second fight between both parties to request a third bout.

Wilder activated the clause soon after their first rematch, and an original fight date was planned for October 2020. However, the Covid-19 pandemic forced the date to be rescheduled. The next attempt was for December of the same year, but the promoters for both camps, Top Rank and Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), as well as the pay-per-view carrier, ESPN, couldn’t settle on another date during that time.

While the pandemic kept throwing roadblocks in the way of another rematch, Fury conducted his boxing business elsewhere, making plans to fight another heavyweight, Anthony Joshua, who holds all the rest of the heavyweight title belts. Fury’s camp then claimed that, since so much time had passed after the initial negotiations, the rematch clause should be considered null and void.

Just a couple of months ago, a short court battle ended with Fury being ordered to honor Wilder’s request, and a new date was set for July of this year. If not for the pandemic, it would otherwise seem as if Fury is still trying to evade Wilder. Speaking at a recent press conference for the upcoming fight, Wilder simply said: "I didn't feel any way about Fury trying to negotiate another fight... We knew we were in the right and we knew they couldn't run."

According to ESPN, Fury will still put his WBC title on the line on October 9, the new tentative fight date.