Boxing fans were rightfully gutted when negotiations between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua for a December 3 fight amounted to nothing – but it appears they’ll still show up for ‘The Gypsy King.’
Despite an underwhelming bout with Mahmoud Charr being discussed, Fury has settled on Derek Chisora as the opponent for his winter warm up before pursuing an undisputed fight with Oleksandr Usyk in 2023. Many fans were less than impressed, given that ‘The Gypsy King’ has beaten Chisora twice already – once in 2011 and then again in 2014.
In his latest column on the Queensbury Promotions website, Frank Warren reveals day one ticket sales that prove Fury is a draw with or without Joshua, and goes on to address some of the criticism.
“Tyson has shown his superstar-power again with a really healthy set of sales numbers yesterday. Over 50k tickets were sold and we are on course for a sell-out.”
“Regarding a few negative mutterings about the fact Tyson is facing Chisora for a third time. I won’t attempt to rewrite history and tell you this is the fight we wanted all along. It is not. We explored the Oleksandr Usyk undisputed fight, but he declared he will not be ready until early next year.
Then Tyson made a very generous offer to Anthony Joshua, and we all know what came of that, so I won’t go over old ground. With those two out of the equation, go through the BoxRec rankings and you will see that Derek is the best and available option.”
With a seated capacity of 62,850 and the pitch providing more space for fans, at this rate the trilogy fight will be the second to pack the stadium in North London. Despite the numbers being impressive, they don’t quite match Anthony Joshua’s first fight with Oleksandr Usyk, which was reported at the time to sell out the same venue within 24 hours.
Fans who don’t fancy the trip to the capital will be able to watch the action via BT Sport Box Office, with a price yet to be revealed.