LAS VEGAS – Staging the Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury heavyweight bout in the U.K. remains “absolutely” in play, Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn told BoxingScene Thursday following a report specifying such a scenario.
Veteran boxing writer Dan Rafael of Fight Freaks Unite! cited sources reporting that Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales is being proposed for the matching of the two-time heavyweight champions on November 28.
Hearn told BoxingScene, “Lots of dates and venues [are] in play.”
The other central issue in Rafael’s report is that streaming partner Netflix “was now OK with the move” after a previous effort to place the bout at New York’s Madison Square Garden on November 20 to maximize revenue from the long-anticipated battle between the two rival Brits.
Principality Stadium, offering a retractable roof and seating capacity beyond 80,000, is considered a superior site to Wembley Stadium because it isn’t obligated to the start-time restrictions that the north London venue adheres due to neighborhood noise limitations.
Starting the fight in the early morning hours in the U.K. is preferable to financiers given the eight-hour time difference between there and the Pacific time zone in the U.S.
The stadium has history in that regard.
In 2007, the unified super-middleweight title fight between Wales’ Joe Calzaghe and Mikkel Kessler at Principality Stadium started at 2am local time, 9pm in the U.S. Eastern time zone.
Joshua has fought there twice in consecutive fights, defeating Carlos Takam and Joseph Parker in 2017-18.
Rafael reported the matter could be “resolved” within “the next couple days.” In the U.K., The Times’ Tom Kershaw reported that the officials at the stadium could approve an extension to the typical curfew (10.30pm) within 24 hours.
In August a spokesperson for the Welsh Rugby Union that owns and operates Principality Stadium told BoxingScene, “We’d be delighted to host this fight.
“We are very keen to attract more boxing to the stadium, which has a rich history in the sport, enhanced by its close-able roof, unrivaled sight lines and unique city centre location.”
Fury 36-2-1 (25 KOs) has never fought there. The “Gypsy King” has spent recent days bemoaning Hearn and Joshua’s resistance to fighting in the U.S., saying he’d like to pursue a trilogy fight with recent undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk; a notion shot down by an Usyk associate.
Fury, 38, stopped veteran Mariusz Wach July 24 in Thailand in a tuneup bout for Joshua.
In his warm-up bout, the 36-year-old Joshua, 30-4 (27 KOs), recovered from two first-round knockdowns on July 25 versus Kristian Prenga to win by emphatic KO in the second.
