London Mayor Sadiq Khan has stated his intention to bring the Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua undisputed heavyweight clash to UK soil.
World Boxing News has long questioned why the biggest British heavyweight fight since Lennox Lewis vs. Frank Bruno isn’t taking place at home.
It makes absolutely no sense to take the fight elsewhere for a mega-money site fee when UK fans would gladly pay double the ticket price to keep the fight in Britain.
The event’s momentum will be diminished as most British fans will not be able to say “I was there” when Fury and Joshua finally traded blows.
Only a select few with deep pockets will be able to afford the journey, meaning the only way to watch is Pay Per View.
Maybe that’s the best idea monetary-wise as both sides can then basically charge what they want for the PPV, and the majority of the UK will have to pay it regardless, but that’s not helping the occasion.
Joshua vs. Klitschko is remembered as a historic event due to the crowd’s sheer size packed into Wembley.
Khan is seemingly promising that he can do this again if Fury and Joshua wait until the end of the summer.
“Eddie knows how to reach me. We’ll do what we can to support Eddie,” Khan told SNTV on staging the fight in the UK.
“I appreciate there’s politics in boxing as well. I appreciate there are issues around broadcasting. There are issues around sponsorship.
“But if Eddie and the teams want to fight in London, we’re ready.”
HEAVYWEIGHT COLLISION
On his relationship with Hearn, Khan added: “Eddie Hearn can do anything. I mean, this guy is amazing. I call Eddie a friend. I’m a fan of his.
“The fact that he pulled off Joshua-Klitschko, 90,000 was impressive. We worked closely with him.
“I’m keen to see Joshua-Fury. I think it will be amazing. I’m not going to tell you who I’m backing.
“But wouldn’t it be great to see those two great boxers, world champions, boxing amongst their fans.
“Both Tyson and Anthony will tell you how grateful they are to their fans in this country.”
As WBN previously stated, there’s absolutely no reason for this fight not to occur in the UK. If you count money as a reason, you’re not in it for the fans.
Simple as that.
Phil Jay is the Editor of WBN. An Auxiliary member of the Boxing Writers Association of America since 2018. And a member of the Sports Journalists’ Association. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
