Heavyweight contender Michael Hunter has claimed Tyson Fury 'wasn't training too well' ahead of his rescheduled bout with Deontay Wilder.

The 'Gypsy King' was forced to withdraw from his clash with Wilder, which was initially scheduled for last month, after a number of Covid-19 positive tests were recorded in his camp ahead of the bout.

But Hunter has cast doubt on his reason for withdrawing labelling the reports of fury testing positive for coronavirus 'fishy'.

“We do know that he wasn’t doing too well in the gym, but not enough to call the fight off," Hunter told Fight Hype.

“To me, it was kind of funny because, on the first day, they said, ‘Somebody on this team got Covid’.

"And them the next thing we heard was Tyson got Covid. So I thought that was a little fishy."

Fury himself tested positive for the virus as the outbreak took hold of his training camp, but he was spotted taking pictures and greeting fans around Las Vegas in the days after the postponement of the contest.

The bout has now been rescheduled to take place on October 9 in Las Vegas, with British rival Anthony Joshua's clash with Oleksandr Usyk just two weeks prior to the lineal heavyweight champion's ring return.

But Hunter has backed Fury to defeat Wilder for the second time in their trilogy.

“I’m leaning more towards Fury," Hunter continued.

"He got a draw in the first fight, which he just got off the couch in his first fight back. Then he won the second fight."

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was another name in the boxing world to raise suspicion around the postponement of the contest citing 'poor ticket sales', which was later rubbished by Queensberry Promotions promoter Frank Warren who wanted to put an end to 'conspiracy theories'.

His domestic heavyweight rival Joshua, has vowed to 'drop his belts' if required to do so in order to force a fight between the pair after their respective fights in the coming fights.

Fury's promoter Bob Arum is confident that 'an easy deal' can be done when the time comes, and believes the heavyweight champion pair owe the undisputed fight to be held in the UK for the 'fans'.

"Joshua is fighting in September, we are fighting in October. Obviously [Joshua vs Fury] will take place next year," Arum told Sky Sports.

"My position is: if Fury and Joshua win, screw any mandatories! Fury vs Joshua is the fight that people want to see. Period. End of story.

"Both fighters owe the UK fans this tremendous event at Wembley or Cardiff, rather than taking it to a foreign country. That is an easy fight to make. It is not a hard fight to make."

Fury has recently received a phone call from Donald Trump ahead of his trilogy bout with Wilder, with the WBC champion also receiving praise from UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov who labelled him as 'the best fighter in the world'.

Wilder's trainer Malik Scott has backed his man to take victory in the October contest, suggesting that from the footage he has seen the Briton is 'struggling in sparring' ahead of their rematch.

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