The third world boxing heavyweight title match between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder is set to postponed until October due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Wilder had enacted his WBC title rematch clause following his loss to lineal world champion Fury and that bout had been pencilled in for July 18th in Las Vegas.
Travel between the USA and Europe and since been restricted and the Nevada State Athletic Commission have called a halt to combat sports under their jurisdiction.
"Clearly not," Fury's co-promoter Bob Arum said when asked by ESPN whether the bout could go ahead as planned in July. "We don't even know if the MGM will even be open by then.
"You could not guarantee the fighters that the event would take place on that date. We couldn't convince them or ourselves. Where were they going to train for it? It just made no sense.
"You just have to take a step back. How are you going to sell tickets? It's absolutely ridiculous to say the fight is on when the Brits can't even get there.
"So everybody has to take a step back. Boxing is not isolated. It's part of what's happening in the world, so possibly the fight will be in early October."
Top Rank chief Arum added that Wilder's camp are in agreement that they'll now have to wait for another clash with Fury:
"Al (Haymon, Wilder's manager) and his people are in touch with us all the time on this. We see things the same way. We'll be very, very cautious moving ahead and pray this will be over at a particular time and we will be able to make smart plans.
"Nobody has ever experienced anything like this before."
