While former heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder may have been personally opposed to getting vaccinated for Covid-19, not only did he get vaccinated, he required everyone else to do so in his camp ahead of his third rematch against WBC titleholder Tyson Fury, according to his chief trainer Malik Scott.

Given the stakes involved, the decision was a no-brainer.

Alas, the original date for the fight – July 24 – had to be postponed after Fury tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Indeed, several members of Fury’s training entourage tested positive as well. The pay-per-view event has since been rescheduled for Oct. 9 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. According to Fury’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank, Fury only took one shot and neglected to follow up for a second.  

Scott was hardly surprised by the announcement, but he chastised Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) for his careless ways. Unlike him, Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs), Scott says, went the extra mile to ensure that everything on their end was copacetic.

“So I heard he took one vaccine shot and he didn’t take another one,” Scott said on The PBC Podcast. “That’s the most [irresponsible] thing to me for him to do because you’re fighting Deontay Wilder. Deontay was someone who was totally against the vaccine but for the love of the sport and for the love of the fans and for the love of him trying to get payback and the title back and to redeem himself, not only did he take it, but he made sure we all [got vaccinated]…We all had to do what he had to do for this.”

Scott was peeved at the fact that Fury did not hold up his side of the bargain, ruining the plans of not only the principal actors involved but also the fans.  

“Even though him and Deontay have these issue and can’t wait to hurt each other and Deontay wanting to decapitate him and all kind of stuff, there still should be a mutual respect and responsibility of each fighter to do your part in making it to the ring on the night of the fight,” Scott said. “Now you have to be unselfish. Because now you have fans [making sacrifices] in terms of coming to support and their finances. What about the guys on the undercard? What about their fans who paid for tickets and flights and everything? What about the consumers that bought the pay-per-view? What about the promoters? The managers? Just everything.”