Boxing is going global for a pretty simple reason. Follow the money.
Promoter Eddie Hearn says a possible fight between heavyweights Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury might belong in the U.K. Look at their passports. Look at their birth certificates. Both are British. But allegiances have a price tag these days. If and when there’s a Joshua-Fury fight, Hearn looks at a bottom line that takes him elsewhere.
Would Joshua-Fury happen in the U.K.?
“No, it won’t,’’ Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, told iFL TV. “I can’t see how it does.
“For me, it should happen in the U.K. And if there’s a way to do it, we’ll do it. But the problem is the money that could be generated, because the government here don’t invest in bringing mega events to the U.K. They don’t necessarily need to.’’
Hearn might already be staking out a negotiating position for a massive site fee for a fight that could take on further historical significance if Fury beats Deontay Wilder Feb. 22 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. If Joshua also wins a possible mandatory title defense against Kubrat Pulev in a bout still under negotiation, a Joshua-Fury fight for the undisputed heavyweight title looms.
For now, however, Saudi Arabia looks more likely than London. What’s next? The 2021 Super Bowl in Qatar? Baseball’s 2022 World Series in Beijing?
Boxing is different, of course. It’s been on the road longer than the modern Olympics. World titles should mean what they say. Muhammad Ali became a worldwide celebrity with fights in Africa, Ireland, Indonesia and the Philippines. Fury and Joshua wouldn’t be the first heavyweights to fight outside of their own country. Ali fought fellow American George Foreman in Zaire. He fought fellow American Joe Frazier in a rematch in the Philippines.
The game is going global all over again, Hearn says, because countries are willing to invest “a huge pot of money” for fights as a way to stimulate tourism.
“Do you think that I go up to the guys and say: ‘Guys, you can make $150 million to do it in Saudi or $40 million in the U.K., but Dave on Twitter says ‘you’ve got to do it in England.’
“It doesn’t work like that.”