Joshua, Fury Clash Still Awaits Venue

Joshua, Fury Clash Still Awaits Venue

Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury must accept a venue for their world title fight in a few weeks, with “pressure on” to meet a deadline, says promoter Eddie Hearn.

Britain’s rival world champions have signed a contract for an undisputed world heavyweight title fight, although a location and date are yet to be agreed.

Promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed that seven countries have offered to stage Joshua vs Fury, but a deadline of 30 days has been set to find a venue in time for the fight to be staged this summer.
If an agreement is not reached by then, Hearn told Sky Sports: “Well I guess it depends where we are. If we’re on the verge and it has to go a few days after that.

“That’s a date set by everybody to push forward with the summer fight. We are in March, we want to get this wrapped up as soon as possible. I think far better to put the pressure on and work to a deadline, and I think it’s a fair deadline.

“Ultimately that’s a very sensible timeframe to be able to get a deal done. A lot of conversations with the sites have actually been started a couple of weeks ago, because of the slight delay, so we’re in a good place.

“Both sides on the phone to relevant sites this week and we’ll catch up at the end of the week with an update and I believe in the next week or so, we’ll be ready to provide the fighters with an update of the offers and the various sites on the table.”

Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Qatar, China, Dubai, America and the UK have already been named as possible destinations for the fight.

But the likelihood of a reduced attendance due to Covid-19 restrictions could rule out some options.

“We’re up against it, coming off the back of the pandemic,” said Hearn.

“I’m sure most people would prefer the fight to take place later in the year. That’s not what we want. We want these two fights to take place this year.

“We want it to be AJ’s next fight and it will be, so that’s what we’re in a process of going out and securing, and I think we’re in a great position.”

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