It is the fight announcement that every British boxing fan had been waiting years for. Tyson Fury was to finally face Anthony Joshua in what could be the biggest-ever “Battle of Britain”. The two iconic heavyweights will meet in the ring in Cardiff in December, with the added attraction of a belt on the line.
Frank Warren has said that the WBA heavyweight title will be the prize for the eventual winner of a bout that has been a long time coming. All the best online sports betting sites have already been doing brisk business and 80,000 tickets at the Principality Stadium in the Welsh capital have sold out.
It promises to be an explosive evening in the run-up to Christmas. But does this fight still hold the same importance as it would have done a few years ago? Both fighters have lost this belt to Oleksandr Usyk twice in the past and are not even the highest-ranked British boxers with many organizations and publications. Has this fight come too late to remain relevant? Does the Fury vs. Joshua bout even really still matter?
Long Time Coming
Although there is obvious interest in a fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, most fans will still be taking the news with a pinch of salt, as they have been waiting a very long time for this meeting. Way back in 2012, when Joshua won his Olympic gold, he was already saying that he would like to fight Fury. Fourteen years on, he may now get his chance.
Fury had other bigger fighters in his sights at the time, and even when Joshua finally won his first belt – the IBF version in 2016 – he was still not considered the big name Fury wanted. The Manchester boxer then went through a number of years out of the ring, due to personal issues and ring bans. By the time he got back to the top table, it was Deontay Wilder who was firmly in his sights.
By the end of the 2010s, Joshua had positioned himself in a place to meet Fury, but then sensationally lost to Anthony Ruiz Jr. It took another two years before both Fury and Joshua were at the height of their powers, and a series of meetings were initially agreed before being cancelled. Then Usyk came onto the scene, taking the belts of the two British boxers in the course of a few years.
Retirements, COVID-19, title fight losses, and a failure to agree a deal have all played their part in Fury and Joshua not getting into the ring together. It looks like that is finally going to change, but there will be many who think that this is a big fight that has come too late for it to really matter.
Public Demand
Neither Fury nor Joshua are the fighters they used to be, and neither is putting their belts on the line, having lost them in a series of bouts in recent years. But the boxing world is not the same as many other sports. Promoters know that the fans will still crave bouts between certain boxers, and the public demand for these two to finally meet is still massive.
Tickets for the event sold out within an hour of going on sale, and the bout will be live-streamed on Netflix. If the fans still want this fight to happen, should it really matter that most rankings don’t have them in the top two or three heavyweights currently? All-British affairs have always been box office gold, with Frank Bruno and Lennox Lewis and Nigel Benn against Chris Eubank standing out in recent decades. The fact that Benn and Eubank’s sons have now taken on that rivalry only proves that British fight fans just can’t get enough of a homegrown battle.
Boxing Has Changed
The rise of celebrity boxing has changed the public’s view of the sport in recent years. YouTube influencers have become some of the biggest draws, in a move that has appalled many more traditional fans. But the fact that those bouts are attracting the biggest crowds and viewing numbers only shows that the rankings don’t really matter when it comes to demand.
Arguably the best British heavyweight at the moment is Daniel Dubois. He has welcomed the chance to face the winner of a Fury vs. Joshua bout, and his WBO version of the title would be an attractive prospect for either of the older boxers. But a rematch would surely be the first thought in most fans’ heads, with Frank Warren also knowing that Fury vs. Joshua 2 would probably be able to sell out even quicker than December’s showdown.
Figure 2 Tickets for the Cardiff fight sold out fast – Source: Pexels
Boxing Needs to Matter
Boxing has always been about selling tickets, and that is why we have top fighters scheduled to face kick boxers, social media stars outselling the heavyweight champions of the world, and regular rumors of some big-name fighters from the past coming out of retirement to step back into the ring once more.
These are all reasons why boxing has lost its position in the nation’s consciousness in recent years. MMA and UFC’s profile has skyrocketed as the big names in boxing have disappeared from the mainstream. That is why it is important that a Fury vs. Joshua fight does matter. It may be a few years too late, but there is still some potential for a memorable occasion. Maybe a fight to remember is what it will take for boxing to reclaim its place as king of fight sports.
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