Saudi Arabia Keen to Host Joshua-Fury’s Fight

Saudi Arabia Keen to Host Joshua-Fury’s Fight

Saudi Arabia is ‘absolutely keen’ to secure the Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury fight with only a few weeks remaining to select a location, says promoter Eddie Hearn.

The British rivals have signed contracts for an undisputed world heavyweight title fight this year, but a three-week deadline has been set to finalise a venue and date for a summer showdown.

Matchroom boss Hearn will travel to a number of potential sites next week, although he is fully aware of the desire to host the fight in the Middle East, having promoted Joshua’s rematch win over Andy Ruiz Jr in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.

“That sort of cuts out a lot of the timeframe in terms of going to all these various meetings. We’ve been through the process with them. They gave us their word on what they would deliver and they did that. It was a fantastic event.

“When we did Anthony Joshua against Andy Ruiz rematch, that was really with the mindset with them of doing the undisputed fight, so they are absolutely keen to secure this fight.

“Obviously there are two versions of it, so June, July in the Middle East is very warm. Most people would prefer it to be a little bit later, but that’s not what’s on the table. We want two fights this year and the first one will be in the summer.”

With England set to open its stadiums for this summer’s European championships, Hearn has also not given up hope of holding Joshua vs Fury on home soil.

Hearn said: “There has been some conversations about as we see the Euros potentially going into Wembley in June, July. Can we be a part of that at the back end of it? Could we get 100,000 at Wembley?”

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