By Barry Holbrook: Tyson Fury’s promoter Bob Arum is saying the mega-heavyweight clash between his fighter and IBF/WBA/WBO champion Anthony Joshua will be taking place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with potential dates, July 24, July 31, or August 7th.
It’s interesting that Bob Arum is the one that is leaking the news of the Joshua vs. Fury fight rather than Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn. Arum has mostly hush-mouth about the planning for the fight between the two heavyweight stars until now.
Dan Rafael is reporting the news on his Twitter for Boxing Scene on the location for the Joshua-Fury fight. The fight will take place in an indoor arena with 20,000 fans.
It’s still unclear what the pay-per-view cost will be for the Joshua vs. Fury event for UK and U.S boxing fans purchasing it from their homes. It’s easy to imagine the prices could be among the highest ever for a PPV event.
For U.S fans, that could mean a price tag of over $100 per household, which in a time like this, could result in fewer fans purchasing the fight. But by pricing it high, there will still be enough money made for it to be worth the increase.
Of course, if the organizers price the Joshua vs. Fury bout too high, they won’t get the numbers of buys that they’re hoping to.
It’s no real surprise that the Joshua-Fury fight is heading to Saudi Arabia, as the organizers of the event wanted to make sure that they found a host country that was willing to pay the highest amount of money for the site fee.
Saudi wins out in staging the Joshua vs. Tyson Fury fight, but unfortunately, the UK and U.S fans will lose the chance to see the fight live unless they have the means and good luck to purchase one of the tickets. With only 20,000 tickets available, it further limits the chances for fans to watch the fight in person.
Many boxing fans on social media are angry about the mega-fight between the two heavyweight champions going abroad to Saudi Arabia, as they’ve been supporting these two fighters for years. Instead of being able to see Joshua and Fury in the UK at home, they lose out. Some fans view this as a betrayal by the heavyweights and their promoters and feel they’re being greedy.
Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) has a lot of boxing fans in Saudi Arabia, as he fought there two years ago in his rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr in December 2019. Joshua defeated Ruiz Jr by a one-sided 12 round decision to recapture his IBF, WBA, and WBO heavyweight titles in an impressive performance from start to finish.
Bob Arum has now confirmed Saudi Arabia is the agreed host for Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury. He added that it’s likely to be in Jeddah (Eddie Hearn said 20,000 fans at an indoor arena). Saudis have choice of three dates – July 24th, July 31st, Aug 7th. [@BoxingScene]
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) April 20, 2021