By: Sean Crose
Although a contract has yet to be signed, Tyson Fury co-promoter Bob Arum says that a location for the highly anticipated heavyweight title fight between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk is being sought. “I think both of the fighters have agreed to the fight, I think the question is where the site will be,” Arum told Sky Sports. “That will be sorted out hopefully next week and we’ll have an announcement shortly.” Europe would be an obvious location for the match, as Fury is from Britain and Usyk is from Ukraine. As always with the sport of boxing, however, money is the top priority.
Therefore, the Middle East may well be the location where the bout eventually goes down. Then again, Britain remains an option. “If the fight goes to the Middle East it will be sometime after Ramadan,” said Arum, “and if the fight is in the UK it will be the beginning of April.” It might be argued, then, that the location will be decided by the highest bidder. “It depends what the deals are and so forth,” Arum said.
Because both Fury and co-trainer Frank Warren are English, there is a genuine desire to hold the fight in Great Britain. What’s more, major fights that go down in England are huge attractions which bring in untold numbers of energetic fans. A big fight in, say, London, for example, is always good for the sport. “There are a number of us that would prefer the fight to be in Wembley, but again it depends on the money,” Arum told Sky Sports.
While some may argue that seemingly obscene sums of money shouldn’t be the only requirement to make a hoped for fight, Arum argued from the perspective of the combatants. “The fighters have a very short limit of their careers and they have to make whatever money, particularly large amounts of money, because in a few years it’s not going to be available,” he stated. With that being said, Arum indicated he was eager to see a Fury-Usyk fight go down. “I just think it’s going to be a tremendous fight,” he said.
