BEVERLY HILLS, May 13, (THEWILL) – It is the responsibility of a boxing promoter to do all in his power to generate and stretch the hype about their boxing matches to create sufficient buzz ahead of the fight to sell enough of their services to make it profitable. No one understands this system better than Eddie Hearn, the Group Managing Director of Matchroom Sport and promoter for Anthony Joshua.
On Thursday, Hearn revealed that the duo of Joshua and Tyson Fury, whose unification bout has captured the attention of boxing fans eagerly awaiting any news of the fight, have finalised the date for their undisputed heavyweight championship clash and will slug it out in a stadium specially created for them.
He confirmed the date to be August 14, a week after the Tokyo Olympics closing ceremonies, and the venue will be in Saudi Arabia. It was, according to Hearn, “a done deal” even though it is yet to be officially confirmed by both sides at the moment.
As for Hearn, that will come soon but he was already focussed on building a brand new venue to stage this historic fight, an objective he said was the intention of the hosts: “They want to build a new stadium. They have indoors options.”
The consideration of indoor options relate to the temperatures of Saudi Arabia in August which, even by 11pm, it will be about 23 degrees.
Hearn continued, “They want to create something very, very special. Last time they built a stadium for the Andy Ruiz Jr fight in just seven weeks and it held 18,000. This will be a similar set-up.
“They have the opportunity to hold it indoors but they want to create something that will shock the world. They want to build a stadium just for this fight.”
Another plus to setting the fight after the Olympics is that Joshua’s trainer Rob McCracken, who also coaches Team GB’s boxing team, will avoid a conflict of interests and be available for the bout.
Hearn explained that the delay surrounding the late arrival of the full financial documents from the hosts to Fury’s team was because of the religious celebration of Eid in Saudi Arabia. When that is done, the decision will be made public.
The massive fight will have Joshua’s IBF, WBA and WBO belts and Fury’s WBC title on the line for the emergence of an undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
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.
