MICHAEL HUNTER claimed Tyson Fury ‘wasn’t doing too well’ while training for Deontay Wilder and his positive coronavirus test was ‘fishy’.
Fury was due to face Wilder in a trilogy bout in Las Vegas on July 24 and had set up his camp Stateside.
Heavyweight contender Hunter was among the names to have trained with the WBC champion in Vegas, before he and his team caught Covid-19.
But the American cast doubt over Fury’s withdrawal and even said the training camp was not going to plan.
Hunter, 33, told FightHype: “We do know that he wasn’t doing too well in the gym, but not enough to call the fight off.
“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.”
Wilder’s partner Telli Swift recently hit out at Fury for pulling out of the fight and blasted that the Brit was ‘buying time’.
TRILOGY POSTPONMENT
And rival promoter Eddie Hearn also questioned the cancellation and hinted at a lack of ticket sales.
But that theory was debunked by Fury’s UK promoter Frank Warren who revealed £14million worth of seats had been sold.
Fury also protested his innocence and said sparring partners coming in and out of his camp would be to blame for catching the virus.
With the trilogy bout now set for October 9, the Gypsy King is set to re-start his preparations back home in Britain.
But he will reduce his team to just four team members this time around in order to take extra precaution.
Fury told the Daily Mail last month: “There were only ten of us on the team this time.
‘INCREASE TESTING’
“But when we go back into camp for a month in England and another month here I will cut us to just four full time.
“Me, my head trainer SugarHill Steward, his assistant Andy Lee and my old pal Tim who organises my life.
“We will strictly control the access for sparring partners and increase testing. No masseur. No fitness coach. No dietician.
“Even my two brothers will have to wait to join me until fight week here in Vegas. I’ve suffered enough frustration on this roller-coaster.
“I don’t need more, any more than I would have risked anyone else’s health by coming early out of quarantine.”
Fury, 32, in 2018 drew with Wilder, 35, but won the rematch two years later, which included a contracted trilogy.
DREAM TEAM IS BACK! SIGN UP NOW FOR THE 21/22 SEASON FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN £100,000
And Hunter – who lost to the Gypsy King in the amateur ranks – has backed his former opponent to come up trumps again.
He said: “I’m leaning more towards Fury.
“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.”
