Arum Says Middle East Would Have To Offer “A Very Very Large Number”
Legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum is already looking forward to 2021. If everything goes smoothly in the second half of 2020, then he will be looking to cash-in when a potential undisputed heavyweight clash takes place in 2021.
Arum promotes two heavyweights that will play a huge factor in determining the next undisputed heavyweight champion. WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 23KOs) will be taking on former WBC champion Deontay Wilder (42-1-1, 41KOs) in a rubber match at some point likely in 2020. Top contender Kurbat Pulev (28-1, 14KOs), the IBF mandatory, will be challenging unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (23-1, 21KOs).
CONTINGENT PLAN!
Both Fury and Pulev are promoted by Top Rank, so wins by either of them are beneficial. Such a result would keep Arum and his company Top Rank in play. Wins by both would completely shun Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn. The would be kept on the outside looking in while Top Rank hosts an in-house showdown for undisputed in the heavyweight division.
TOP PRIORITY!
Obviously, Arum would love to have an all-Top Rank showdown for the undisputed heavyweight titles of the world. He would also, however, love to participate in promoting an even bigger fight globally and financially in Tyson Fury V Anthony Joshua.
Also, having two British superstars fighting would lead you to believe that staging the fight would mean it’s automatically heading to the United Kingdom. Wrong!
SHOW ME THE MONEY!
Speaking to IFL TV, Arum stated the following in regards to where a potential Fury-Joshua fight would take place.
“We have great confidence in Kinahan, we think he’s very very honest. Very astute, he has great connections and it appears to us; when that fight happens, let’s assume Joshua beats Pulev and Fury beats Wilder in their fights that’ll take place. Next year, we’ll be looking for a site.
Now, the question first and foremost is should the fight be in the United States or in the UK? When we go through the numbers, it’s clear that the fight does a lot better in the United States, because no matter if you put in sixty thousand people in a stadium in the UK, it doesn’t top what we do at a gate for fifteen thousand people in Las Vegas. If you do the fight in the UK, you hurt, very horribly, the US pay per view because the fight’s in the afternoon and the U.S pay per view can generate, a fight like that, maybe 80 million dollars.
So that’s something that has to be taken into account. What can top all of that U.S, UK is the Mid East coming up with a very very large number for that fight and that’s what Dan is looking into because everybody trusts Kinahan with handling that situation, whether it’s Eddie or Frank or myself. So Dan is like the captain when it comes to the practicalities of doing a fight in the Mid East.”
To sum it all up, the U.S, UK and Middle East are all in the running to host the potential Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua undisputed heavyweight title fight.
But before we can get to that point, boxing must resume amid the current COVID-19 pandemic and Fury and Joshua must win their upcoming fights. Reason being, if they don’t, it’ll be a whole other topic of fight possibilities.
3kingsboxing.com will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as they become available.
By: Jerrell Fletcher
