Though it's usually Anthony Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn who reveals tidbits of information during the long process to finalise the heavyweight unification fight against Tyson Fury, Bob Arum has this time revealed some potentially-huge information that the boxing world has been waiting months to hear.
In an interview with Boxing Scene, Arum — the US promoter of Fury, who works alongside the WBC champion's British representative Frank Warren — offered insight into the TV rights situation as well as the location, start time and more.
“The traditional pay-per-view outlets will be part of it, like DirecTV, In Demand, etc.,” Arum told Dan Rafael, while also noting that a late afternoon start on the East coast of the United States is likely for the main card, with the fight very likely to land in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“We have (site deal) contracts now that we are marking up and so forth,” Arum said. “It’s a big step. We’re just doing the paperwork now with the Saudis.
Interestingly, Arum also mentioned that both Hearn and Warren's chief television carriers will have access to the rights.
“It will be a normal pay-per-view here (in the United States)," he said “Obviously, the big market is the U.K., where everyone is talking it will do 3 million homes.
“Sky and BT both will have it on pay-per-view there. You will be able to buy it on BT or buy it on Sky. It can’t be exclusive to either.”
Of course, one of the biggest factors fans want confirmed is how much Joshua vs. Fury will cost to watch.
“I have no idea. We’ll work it out with ESPN, with In Demand,” Arum said. “Eddie has to be consulted. It has to be a price that everybody agrees to.”
But we may not have to wait long before everything is finally set in stone.
“It’s going to have to be within the next 10 days, maybe two weeks,” Arum concluded. “It’s a massive economic deal.”