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Boxing

Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury: Middle East venues are 'ready' for heavyweight unification superfight, claims Eddie Hearn

Liam Happe
Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury: Middle East venues are 'ready' for heavyweight unification superfight, claims Eddie HearnDAZN
Shortly after expressing his frustration with the opposition's contributions to negotiations, Eddie Hearn claimed there are multiple venues ready and willing to host the big fight in July.

Eddie Hearn says venues in the Middle East are ready to host Anthony Joshua's heavyweight unification fight against Tyson Fury.

Hearn has recently spoken out about negative comments made by Fury and his team during negotiations, going as far as to suggest that it makes it look as though the WBC champion doesn't actually want the fight to happen, as well as hinting that it feels like he is trying to finalise the clash all by himself.

The two fighters have signed a contract to fight, but until a date and venue are confimed, nothing is really set in stone.

The Matchroom Boxing promoter, who handles Joshua's career, went on to tell Sky Sports that the pair will have plenty of options to choose from, including overseas, all ready to go.

"Nothing is ideal," he said. "If it was ideal, we'd just be in Wembley with 100,000.

"But I don't know whether Tyson Fury would accept that offer. We may see on Sunday. But if it's 20,000 or 15,000 in an arena, all the Middle East offers have been based on an indoor arena.

"We know it's hot there in July, of course, so there is no option to go outside. It has to be in an indoor arena and those arenas are already in place, ready to stage this fight.

"We had a great experience [in Saudi Arabia] back in December 2019, with Anthony Joshua against Andy Ruiz, so they are players that we know are for real. 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. Most people would prefer it to be a little bit later, but that's not what's on the table. We want two [Joshua vs Fury] fights this year and the first one will be in the summer."