By Jake Tiernan: An undisputed heavyweight clash between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk could be off the table for the April 29th date due to the stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, not being ready in time for the fight.
The two champions should put off their undisputed championship fight until a later time when the stadium in Jeddah is completed. If that means the Fury vs. Usyk fight happens later this year, so be it.
Tyson will need an opponent with the popularity to bring in a big crowd, but unfortunately, there’s only a small handful of fighters that have a large enough fan base to make that possible.
Fury’s biggest problem
The problem is that Fury is not easy to negotiate with, and the odds of speedily negotiating a fight against a big name in time to fight on April 29th are virtually zero.
If Fury had six to eight months to negotiate with a big name, it might be possible to put together a fight by November or December, but there’s no way that he’s going to be able to set up a fight with a talented contender with a large enough fan base to sell out Wembley Stadium by April 29th.
In a perfect world, Fury’s promoters would quickly sign a fighter that can step in and face him in front of 95,000 fans on April 29th at Wembley Stadium, but that’s not going to happen, unfortunately.
Fury CAN’T hand-pick another domestic-level fighter like he did last December against Derek Chisora and expect to bring in a massive crowd at Wembley Stadium.
Unfortunately, Fury’s hands are tied with his April 29th fight at Wembley Stadium because it means he can’t trot out another low-level fighter like Chisora or Dillian Whyte and expect to attract a sizable crowd.
Canceling the booking = best solution
It would be a good idea for Fury’s promoters to cancel the booking of Wembley Stadium for April 29th and instead go with a small venue in the UK for that date.
If that venue wasn’t booked, Fury’s promoters could place his next fight at a small arena, and their problem would be solved.
With the Wembley Stadium booked, Fury will need a live body because he can’t fight another dug-up stiff like he’d been doing in his last couple of bouts.
Options for Fury:
- Franciso Ngannou – former UFC fighter with zero experience in boxing.
- Deontay Wilder
- Andy Ruiz Jr
- Joseph Parker
- Martin Bakole
- Bakhodir Jalolov
- Jared Anderson – Fury’s sparring partner
Usyk had already made a deal with the Saudis to fight over there on April 29th, and he’s not expected to want to take a pay cut to fight Fury at Wembley.