Promoter Frank Warren has disclosed that Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will receive the largest paydays of their careers when they at last resolve their ten-year rivalry on Friday, December 11, at Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
This bout, supported by Netflix and Saudi financier Turki Alalshikh, comes after years of unsuccessful talks and false starts, with disagreements over the venue and the involvement of UFC boss Dana White threatening to derail the fight as recently as this year.
Warren, who has been a promoter for nearly fifty years, told SunSport that the financial rewards on offer ultimately proved too substantial for the fight to collapse once more.
“We nearly did it a couple of times, and it just did not happen for various reasons. This time round, I thought we had done it, but then with some of the personalities and what was going on with them, I had a couple of hesitations about whether it would happen.
“But when you look at the money these fellows are getting paid, it is phenomenal money. If they did not do it, they would be crazy. It is huge, huge purses. Massive money. The highest of their careers, I should think the highest of any British fighter’s career ever,” Warren said.
At first, Netflix had pushed for the fight to take place at Madison Square Garden in New York with White’s support, but Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, refused to budge, pointing to a legally binding contract that required the bout to be held in the United Kingdom without White’s involvement.
Warren then helped arrange a deal with the 70,000-seat Principality Stadium, although a later ring-walk time of between one and two in the morning is reportedly under negotiation to suit a prime-time audience in the United States.
“Look at the World Cup just gone. Some of those matches—what time were they on at night from America? We are a global village now, so you have got to try and hopefully accommodate everybody.
“I know it is going to upset a lot of people, but the only reason this fight is on is because somebody has put up the money for it, and the person who has put the money up for it deserves to get something from it.”
They are taking the risk, and they are putting up a phenomenal amount of money,” he said. ↻
Warren, who has stood by Fury for a long time throughout much of his rivalry with Joshua, insisted that he expects his fighter to come out on top.
“I think he will knock him out. Styles make fights. They are older fighters; I think Tyson has worn better than AJ. All Tyson has got to do is watch the fight he had with Daniel Dubois.
“I said when I made the Dubois fight that he would knock him out, and he nearly knocked him out in the first round with a jab. He is a good finisher, Tyson; he is strong.
“What Tyson has got is a great chin. You get caught, and you go down. All the fighters through history, the Muhammad Alis, the Fraziers, and the Foremans, have all been on the floor.
“The good ones get up; who can take the shots, they get up and do it. Tyson has done that time and time again,” he said.
The December fight is part of a packed run of boxing before the year is out, with Ben Whittaker taking on Conor Wallace on October 3, Daniel Dubois facing Fabio Wardley in a rematch on October 17, and Canelo Alvarez going up against Christian Mbili on October 31, all leading up to the Fury-Joshua showdown in December.
