By Scott Gilfoid: Trainer Peter Fury says they’ve narrowed down location for the Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) vs. Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) rematch to two countries. It’ll either take place in the UK or UAE. Peter says the location of the fight will be based on whichever makes the most revenue.
It’s a risk to stage the fight in the UK because Fury has never fought in a large stadium before, and the last thing they need is to book Wembley Stadium in London and then watch the fight only sell 20,000 tickets or less. Staging the fight in UAE would be a risk as well because it might not sell out and the two could be fighting in front of a ghost town audience.
Fury, 27, won a close 12 round decision last November over Wladimir in front of a large crowd in Dusseldorf, Germany. It was a horrible performance from Fury, but Wladimir was even worse. It was a situation where both fighters put in F-level performances, but the only reason Fury won the fight was because he got an F+. Personally, I’ve never seen a worst performance from a winning challenger in my life than what I saw from Fury. It was just awful to watch.
The thing is Wladimir looked and fought like he was 100-years-old. I’m not sure what happened to the guy, but he just looks like he aged 10 years in the last year. He went from looking sharp against Alexander Povetkin in 2013 to looking dreadful in fights against Bryant Jennings and Fury.
“We are trying to locate and secure the venue and get moving forward. I’m hoping sometime soon we can get it announced. Nothing is set and it all depends on the venue,” Peter said to skysports.com. “The fight is going to take place in one of two places; it’s either going to be in the UAE or in the United Kingdom. It’s a toss-up between the two and talks are ongoing. The best package will take it. It’s just about maximizing revenue.”
I think the Klitschko-Fury rematch should take place in Germany if Wladimir is still able to sellout huge stadiums. That’s a big if because the German fight fans might abandon ship after Wladimir’s last performance. But still, I think Wladimir is a bigger draw than Fury any day of the week. I’m not sure why Fury isn’t a big draw in the UK.
You’ve got guys like Joe Calzaghe and Carl Froch that were big draws in the UK, but then you have someone like Fury, who can’t draw. I think it would be a mistake if Fury were to stage his rematch with Wladimir in the UK, because I see him losing a ton of money when the British boxing fans vote with their feet and opt to stay away from paying to see Fury fight Wladimir again. I mean, they’ve got to know how bad the product was the first time, and the rematch is likely going to be just as bad.
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