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Tyson Fury might not fight Deontay Wilder in next fight, co-promoter Frank Warren says

WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury says he's "moved on" from facing Deontay Wilder for a third time.

"I was looking forward to smashing Wilder again. A quick and easy fight," Fury told The Athletic. "But Wilder and his team were messing around with the date. They don't really want to fight the lineal heavyweight champion. They know how it ends. The world knows how it will end: with Wilder on his ass again."

Fury was initially expected to face Wilder in a third encounter between the pair at Allegiant Stadium, the home of the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders, on Dec. 19.

But with no crowd because of restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, promoters and broadcasters have yet to announce plans for the trilogy fight.

Fury also said Wilder's side kept moving back the date.

"Then they asked me if I would agree to push it to December. I agreed to Dec. 19," Fury said. "Then they tried to change the date again into next year. I've been training. I'm ready. When they tried moving off Dec. 19 and pushing to next year, enough was enough. I've moved on."

Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs), 32, from Manchester, England, wants to box again this year after stopping Wilder in seven rounds in February.

Wilder (41-1-1, 40 KOs), 34, from Alabama and who drew with Fury in December 2018 in their first fight, is contractually entitled to a rematch, but Warren says if a third fight cannot be organized with Fury in December, then the Englishman will fight someone else.

"I don't know if that fight [Fury vs. Wilder] can get on this year," Fury's co-promoter, Frank Warren, told BT Sport.

"Promoters on both sides, we have worked very hard to make it happen, but it's looking like it will not happen. There's talk about it happening next year. Tyson has been training like a lot of guys solidly since February, and he wants to fight this year.

"My concern is Tyson's welfare and well-being, and delivering what he wants, so he will fight this year. Contractual commitments are what they are, but contracts do not go on forever, and if the fight cannot be delivered within the contractual period, Tyson will move on and maybe revisit the fight another time.

"He will be out this year because that's what he wants."

Warren said Fury-Wilder III will happen only if "someone comes up with a truckload of money with assurances that it's real."

Wilder's manager, Shelly Finkel, told ESPN's Steve Kim on Saturday that Warren is "incorrect," and that they have a contract for a fight.

One option for Fury would be to box an alternative opponent -- and possibly without the titles on the line -- at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Dec. 5, when Warren will stage a show featuring English light heavyweight Anthony Yarde and Lyndon Arthur.

If Fury passes on Wilder, it opens up the possibility of a world title unification fight in 2021 against English rival Anthony Joshua, the WBA-IBF-WBO world champion, who will defend his titles against Bulgaria's Kubrat Pulev on Dec. 12.

Warren also said rival world junior welterweight champions Josh Taylor (WBA-IBF) of Scotland and Jose Ramirez (WBC-WBO) of the United States will face each other next. Ramirez's WBO mandatory challenger, Jack Catterall, has agreed to wait to face the winner of Taylor-Ramirez, according to Warren.

And American Jamel Herring will defend his WBO world junior lightweight title against Northern Ireland's Carl Frampton, a former world champion at featherweight and junior featherweight, before the end of the year, according to the British promoter.