The $100 Million Hurdle: Are Fury and Joshua Too Wealthy to Accept Anything Less for Their ‘Battle of Britain’?

Getting Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua into the ring for what Eddie Hearn calls ‘The Battle of Britain’ may require the involvement of Turki Alalshikh and the Saudis. Joshua and Fury have become so accustomed to making massive paydays approaching $100 million that they wouldn’t likely be tempted by a $35 million purse each without the Saudis.

The $100 Million Question

For the average world champion-level fighter, they gladly accept $35 million for a fight. In Joshua and Fury’s case, they’ve become spoiled by the Saudi money and would likely expect $100 million each for their ‘Battle of Britain’ fight. The thing is, neither fighter provides that kind of value in terms of entertainment and ability. They’re both washed and have been for years. Even when they were at their best, they weren’t great. Look at their resumes. There’s no one there other than an old 40-ish Wladimir Klitschko and a bunch of low-level contenders.

U.S fans wouldn’t be bothered if the Fury vs. Joshua fight never happens because they don’t rate either of them as being among the top three in the heavyweight division. Fury has lost his last two fights, and Joshua is coming off a bad knockout loss after beating four tomato cans with his rebuild job.

“The thing with Joshua and Fury. The reason some of the juice has gone out of them is that they’re so wealthy now. They don’t need to fight anymore,” said Gareth Davies to talkSport Boxing about Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. “I would be really disappointed, and I think the British public would be. I think the sporting public would be if we don’t see those two in the ring together. I think we will see them in the ring together.’

Too Rich to Fight?

The problem with Joshua and Fury being filthy rich is that they would expect insane money to get them in the ring. There’s no one there that can pay them other than the Saudis.They might not be motivated to do that after watching Fury lose twice in a row to Usyk.

“Is it commercially big enough without Turki Alalshikh and the Saudi Arabians to make enough money to get them in there? Without that, it does a couple of million PPVs; it sells out Wembley Stadium, they’re probably still earning only $35 million each. I know [it’s still a lot of money], but the trouble is what they’ve been earning,” said Gareth.