It looks as though the third fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder will be staged overseas. Promoter Frank Warren has stated that as big a money-spinner as Fury Vs. Wilder II was, with the February rematch pulling in big bucks at the gate, there is no way the third fight will go ahead behind closed doors. “We just can’t lose that gate,” Warren said when speaking on Good Morning Britain.
So the search is now on for a suitable venue in a foreign country to pay a substantial sum of money to host the fight.
“Wilder and Fury was the highest-grossing fight to ever take place in Vegas. We just can’t lose that gate,” Warren said. “It’s a huge amount of money. We need the gate. Or we come up with a scenario where there is a huge site fee from a territory to take it, and we use it to promote their country. We are looking at those situations.”
Fans may recall how there was an offer from Australian promoter Dean Lonergan to host Fury-Wilder III in Australia on Christmas Day. Maybe this possibility will be looked at anew. Or perhaps the fight will still go ahead in Las Vegas but with a limited audience, perhaps the arena half full with paying fans. In terms of the Anthony Joshua-Kubrat Pulev fight, set for December 12, Eddie Hearn has said the fight WILL go ahead, with or without fans in attendance.
As big a crowd-puller as AJ is, that fight will lose a massive gate if zero fans are allowed to attend. The only way these fights can earn big money is via pay-per-view sales, it seems. But as Hearn has said, fighters need to fight. It’s been almost a year since Joshua last fought, while Fury and Wilder have been out of action for seven months.
Maybe it would be a good thing if Fury-Wilder III took place in a faraway location. The fight could be promoted as a huge event somewhere overseas, in a return to the days when heavyweight greats like Ali, Foreman and Frazier fought in exotic locations.