Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn hints the highly anticipated super fight between heavyweight icons Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua might not be hosted in the United Kingdom, the reason being the crowd issue.
For years, boxing fans across the globe have been yearning to see WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight titleholder Anthony Joshua, two of the greatest heavyweights of all time together in the same squared circle to find out who indeed is the true king of the weight class.
Now, the dream bout is soon to become a reality as both fighters have nodded to take each other on, with Fury even claiming a 3-round prevail over AJ, who believes the fight is “no big deal.“
Not having full capacity crowd in the UK can switch Fury-Joshua elsewhere, suggests Eddie Hearn
While the fight is very likely to take place in May next year, boxing fandom may not see the two Britons clash in their home country, as Eddie Hearn asserts Fury-Joshua might be hosted on foreign soil.
“[The location] will be the next move,” Hearn said in an interview with Sky Sports News, “Our plan, after speaking to [Tyson Fury’s promoter] Bob Arum, is to get the deal in place then go out to the relevant sites.”
While expressing his eagerness to see the bout happen in the UK, but the COVID-19 crisis in the country hinders Hearn’s hopes, as the promoter worries low revenue without a crowd in full capacity, which can also put off both the fighters who would want to take away a heavy purse from the fight as well.
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Even though the recently concluded fight between Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev carried spectators, the situation has been changed in London after it went into Tier 4 and unless a situation changes, Hearn believes the crowd might go down from half to 80% for Fury-Joshua.
“Obviously we all would like this fight to take place in the UK but you’ve seen London go into Tier 4 now,” the Matchroom MD went on, “We had a crowd on Saturday [for Joshua’s win over Kubrat Pulev] but that has been taken away for the time being. There are a lot of unknowns in that respect.”
“Both fighters will have to take a significant reduction in purse for this fight to take place in the UK, unfortunately. Probably half and, without a crowd, maybe 80 per cent,” (H/T Sky Sports) added Hearn.
