Earlier this year, heavyweight division aces Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury agreed in principle to the financial terms of a two-fight deal.
It was expected that the agreement would become a signed, sealed and delivered contract once both men had fulfilled their prior obligations. WBA, WBO and IBF champion Joshua was close to locking down a date with mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev at the time, while Fury was contractually tied to granting Deontay Wilder a rematch for the WBC title he won from "The Bronze Bomber" in February.
With the Fury-Wilder trilogy now reportedly expiring and Joshua finally set for Dec. 12 with Pulev after a long wait to finally get ticket-buying fans into the venue, Britain's biggest ever domestic heavyweight showdown may finally be on its way.
However, some fans are concerned that what could be a champion vs. champion megafight may actually be taken well away from Great Britain, similar to Joshua's reclaiming of his titles from Andy Ruiz Jr. a year ago being held in Saudi Arabia for a lucrative site fee.
Eddie Hearn, who promotes Joshua, and Frank Warren, who co-promotes Fury, will certainly be enthusiastic as Brits to have the bout on home soil at a big stadium such as Wembley or Cardiff's Principality Stadium. And veteran American promoter Bob Arum, the other half of Fury's management team, offered some tentative reassurances this week to British fight fans.
“If Joshua beats Pulev then the promoters, Frank and me on Fury’s side and Eddie on Joshua's side, will get together and figure out where the best place to do the fight is and what the revenue differences are at the sites," Arum said in an exclusive interview with Marc Gatway via Betway Insider.
“One thing I'm clear about is: the fight does not belong in the United States. If it's between the U.S. and the U.K., the fight certainly belongs in the U.K.
"But if it's between the U.K. and some other locations, which might be willing to pay a big site fee, then that's something the parties will have to consider.
“If it's a few million dollars difference we might do it in the U.K., but if it's a lot more money then it probably does not make any sense [do it in the U.K.].
"There are a lot of locations all around the world that want to do that fight, on a weekly basis I'm besieged by calls from possible locations and so is Frank and Eddie. Everybody wants to stage this fight if Joshua beats Pulev.”
Indeed, Joshua vs. Pulev remains one of the final considerable obstacles for now. If the champion retains, only the audience situation is left.
The title defence against Pulev will have 1,000 fans in attendance, in line with the U.K.'s most recent guidelines which changed on Dec. 2.
With the spring or summer of 2021 the ideal time for Joshua vs. Fury, recent good news on the availability of the coronavirus vaccine means Britain could potentially stage the fight in front of as many as 70,000 or 80,000 live fight-starved spectators.
Understandably, Arum is reserving his enthusiasm for after Dec. 12. And he believes Pulev truly has a chance to throw a huge spanner in the works.
“I believe Kubrat will be able to match Joshua with boxing ability and will have an opportunity to catch Joshua and knock him out. Pulev is very strong and has good pedigree, so Joshua won't be able to run and do what he did to Ruiz in the rematch.
“It's one thing to box and run around the ring, making out you're second coming of Muhammad Ali when you're fighting a fat, obese Andy Ruiz — but it's going to be a different story when you're fighting a fit and ready Pulev, who's in great shape and a good boxer.
"Pulev has the ability to corner Joshua and to take him out, so I believe not only is Pulev going to win the fight but he's going to win it by knockout.”
“We promoted Ruiz 30 times and most of the time he had trouble impacting opponents with his power, so the fact he devastated Joshua so badly indicates to me Joshua has a big weakness and that is his inability to take a punch.”
“I'm not a fool, I'm talking about what I've seen: I saw Anthony Joshua get knocked on his ass and thoroughly beaten not so long ago.”
Joshua vs. Pulev can be purchased in the U.K. and Ireland on Sky Sports Box Office, while fans in over 200 countries elsewhere can view the fight with a DAZN subscription.