As the long running saga over the proposed date and venue of the bout between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua appears to rumble on, promoter Frank Warren has said: “Everyone’s got to make their mind up. Otherwise, move on.”
The International Boxing Hall of Fame promoter still believes the Netflix bout will wind up in New York, and told a group of journalists Wednesday: “If it happens, I think it’ll happen in November, early November. I think it’s all probability of being in the States.
“And Tyson, to that effect, went over the weekend to Miami, which is where he’s training. And he’s training to fight. So one way or another, he’s going to fight in November. Hopefully it’s against AJ.”
Asked whether there would be a time limit on a decision, Warren replied: “I shouldn’t think they go past the end of next week.”
And Warren has seen big fights happen in surprising locations before, and he also knows the business-side of the sport well enough to know that, historically, the fight goes where the most money is.
“They’re putting up the money,” Warren said of Netflix.
“Look, you think of all the iconic fights of years and years ago. Great fights, the Thrilla in Manila. Two Americans went to Manila, had a great first fight, Ali and Frazier [went to the Philippines for their trilogy bout]. Everybody wanted that fight. Vegas wanted that fight. New York wanted it. Why did it wind up in Manila? Because somebody put the money up for it to go there.
“Rumble in the Jungle. Who didn’t want to see Ali against Foreman? What a hot fight that was. Where did it wind up? In Zaire. Vegas wanted it again. So did Madison Square Garden. All the networks wanted it. But it went there. Why? Because that’s where they got their money. Dear old Joe Bugner, our man at the time, he wound up fighting in Kuala Lumpur against Ali. Why? Because they put the money up.
“This is nothing unusual. I mean, do I want… should it be in Wembley? Of course it should be in Wembley. But at the end of the day, they’re getting punched in the head. They’re old guys. They’re not young heavyweights. I mean, they’re old guys as far as boxing’s concerned. They’re getting a truckload of money. Get it on or don’t get it on.
“Wherever it takes place, you can watch it. You know, the people who watched those fights I was talking about, they went to cinemas in London. That’s all that showed those fights. They weren’t anywhere else. About 1,500-to-2,000 people watched it live. The rest had to wait for a showing later on, or a couple of days later, whenever it was.
“In those days, TV went off the air. That’s how long they waited. At least in this day and age, you can watch it live.”
But there are, of course, issues, between the powerbrokers hoping to stage the fight and Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn and Joshua, who signed their contract to fight Fury in London, and still want the fight to take place there.
“Eddie’s come out and said what he said and what they want and so on,” Warren added.
“Some of that stuff, flights and tickets, they’re not even an issue. I don’t know what the monetary situation is, but whatever it is, everyone’s got to make their mind up. Otherwise, move on… The fights are either going to happen or not. I think it will happen. If it doesn’t, and I think there’s a time limit on it, by the way, if it doesn’t happen, then there will be one of those fights that slip by.”
Warren was then asked whether he felt Joshua did still want the fight.
Hearn, to his point, says Joshua is desperate for it, in England.
“I mean, look, he had a hard fight last time, didn’t he?” Warren said of Joshua’s two-round bout with Kristian Prenga.
“He came through at the end, but he did have a hard fight. Does he want it? He’s the only one who knows that. He says he does…
“And they did sign. They’re quite right. They signed for a contract for the fight to take place in the UK. Tyson didn’t sign up for America, but Tyson is willing to, and has said he just wants the fight. Just get it on. Get, in his words, get all this politics and all his crap out of the way. Let’s get the fight on.”
