Dubai: The all-British fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury for the undisputed world heavyweight title will take place in Saudi Arabia, promoter Eddie Hearn reconfirmed on Tuesday.
Hearn, who represents Joshua, said the fight is likely to take place on August 7 or August 14. He said the latter is his preferred date because the Olympic Games in Tokyo will have finished, making the Joshua-Fury fight a bigger “global spectacle”.
“It’s a very bad secret that the fight is happening in Saudi Arabia,” Hearn told British broadcaster Sky Sports. “To be honest with you, I don’t mind giving you that information.”
Fury’s US promoter Bob Arum has previously said Saudi Arabia would be the location of the fight. It would be Joshua’s second fight in the kingdom. He reclaimed his WBA, IBF and WBO belts from Andy Ruiz there in December 2019. Joshua’s only fight since saw him retain his titles by knocking out Kubrat Pulev in December.
Fury hasn’t fought since beating Deontay Wilder in February last year to capture the WBC title.
Fury and Joshua have called each other out over Twitter over the last 24 hours, both urging the other to finalise terms for the fight.
Hearn said the “deal is done” but there was frustration on both sides that the fight had not been officially announced.
“From our perspective and AJ’s perspective, we’re ready to go,” he said. “From Tyson Fury’s perspective, they’ve got a couple of lawyers across it from their point. We have to nail this, and I’m not going to stop until I nail it, and everyone has just got to move forward collectively. We’re ready to go from our side. We’re not far away from their side and it is inevitable.”
