BEVERLY HILLS, May 11, (THEWILL) – One of the most anticipated boxing bouts in recent times, the all-British heavyweight unification fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury is set to be staged in Saudi Arabia soon on one of the Saturdays in August, 7th or 14th, according to Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, even as the finer details remain to be finalised.
It is this patchy strand of reaching the final agreements that has held back the final announcement of the bout date and venue for so long and that caused the rival champions to exchange heated messages on social media.
Hearn, who is also Joshua’s promoter admits that the remarks Joshua made online were indicative of the boxer’s growing impatience with Fury, who is yet to agree the remaining terms and is causing all the delay. However, the Group Managing Director of Matchroom Sport said he was confident the expected announcement will go out this week.
Hearn, who name-dropped Fury’s Boxing promoter Bob Arum in his remarks about the delay said: “I think it’s a very bad secret that the fight is happening in Saudi Arabia. To be honest with you, I don’t mind giving you that information. Bob Arum has already done it.
“It’s the same people that we did the deal with Andy Ruiz [rematch]. That event was spectacular.
“As partners, they were fantastic as well. We’re very comfortable. Anthony is very comfortable, he knows those people. They’ve delivered on every one of their promises last time. We’re ready to go.”
Hearn explained his preference for staging the unification battle on the second Saturday in August: “That’s going to be the date. Of course you’ve got the Olympics finishing on August 7th, so in terms of a global spectacle, it would make sense to go on the 14th. That’s one of the things to tick off in the next, hopefully, few days.”
Of the two boxers, Fury has been inactive for the longer period as he has not been in the ring since stopping Deontay Wilder to claim the WBC title in February last year. Joshua, however, fought in December in the defense of his WBA, IBF and WBO belts in a knockout victory against Kubrat Pulev, but appears the more eager to return to action.
Joshua’s tweet in the exchange with Fury clearly illustrated this eagerness: “Spartan. I’m tired. My fans are tired. Your fans are tired. We’re all tired of the talk. Less talk. More action!”
Hearn attested to this: “I saw the tweets from AJ. He’s tired, the fans are tired, and everyone is tired. We’re in a stage where people are getting frustrated. The deal is done.
Now we’re on the finer details of the contract, which came back last Friday. It went back last night. They are on calls now in the office about it, and I think at some point people are going to have to take a little bit of a leap of faith in this deal.
“From our perspective and AJ’s perspective, we’re ready to go. From Tyson Fury’s perspective, they’ve got a couple of lawyers across it from their point.
Again, Hearn assured that this week will be the week that the details are revealed: “There’s no reason why it shouldn’t happen this week. This is kind of like the moment where you could actually turn around at this point and say, ‘This is dragging on too long, or I can’t be dealing with this anymore.’
“But we have to nail this, and I’m not going to stop until I nail it, and everyone has just got to move forward collectively.
“We’re ready to go from our side. We’re not far away from their side and it is inevitable, but at the same time, we’ve got to close the door on it.”
The two pugilists agreed to terms on a two-fight contract to unify the IBF, WBO, WBA and WBC heavyweight titles earlier this year and both fights are expected to take place in 2021.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
