The proposed mega-fight between unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and WBC king Tyson Fury appears to be moving closer to the Middle East.
With Britain still engaged in its long-running battle with the Covid-19 Pandemic, a packed-out Wembley Stadium looks unlikely in the medium term, forcing the fight away from home soil to a location where a huge site fee can be negotiated.
As it stands, WBA Super, WBO and IBF champ Joshua and WBC title-holder Fury could face a 50 per cent pay cut to stage the fight on these shores.
First Joshua must navigate a defence against IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev at a near vacant SSE Arena in Wembley on Saturday – with only 1,000 socially-distanced fans in attendance. Then attention will turn to the titanic heavyweight unification bout, already agreed in principle, but Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has said the cold, financial reality is likely to kick in and move the fight abroad – with Saudi Arabia, host of Joshua-Andy Ruiz II, the front runner.
“If you ask both fighters and both promotional companies where they would prefer that fight to take place, everybody would say London, everyone. So if there’s a way to do it then great,” Hearn told The Sun.
“We’re not in the same situation as many countries which have significant budgets to bring major sporting events to cities or to countries. We’re not also in a period where we should be asking the Government to provide that kind of help. They’ve got bigger things to worry about.
“We have to rely on the revenue that could be generated from the fight, via the gate and not the revenue that could be generated by a tourism board or by a Government to bring an event like that to a country, so that’s why it’s always difficult.
“It will literally be probably a 50 per cent pay-cut to do the fight in the UK and that’s how brutal it is. If it was 10, 20 or 30 per cent you could have the argument but you’re literally going to make half the money to do it in the UK
“In terms of money in the pot, ultimately the fighters will decide where that fight will be held.I don’t think you can just put it on Tyson and say, ‘We need to get as much money as possible for him to accept the fight’.
“But I do think AJ has consistently earned a lot of money over the last four years and will he care less about the total number in the pot than Tyson Fury? Probably. But still AJ’s not going to do it for half the money just because it sounds nice.”