Tyson Fury’s team wants an earlier start for his December 11 fight with Anthony Joshua in Cardiff. The proposed 2 a.m. UK main event may suit Netflix’s American audience, but Fury’s manager, Spencer Brown, thinks it asks too much of the people buying tickets to Principality Stadium.
Brown says that the start time remains under negotiation. He made clear where his side stands:
“I think 2 AM’s far too late. I think that the general public in England will want to watch it in the pubs, the clubs, you know, around each other’s houses. There’ll be a party atmosphere. And I just think it needs to be earlier. Simple as that,” said Brown to Playbook Boxing.
That is a welcome change from treating the Cardiff crowd as scenery for a broadcast aimed at another time zone. Fans could spend heavily on tickets, travel and hotels, then wait until the early morning to see the fight they came for.
Getting home afterward presents another problem. A stadium full of people leaving in the middle of the night needs a workable transport plan, not an assumption that everyone can find a room nearby.
Brown sees the issue from Fury’s side, but it reaches beyond one camp. Fury versus Joshua is a British fight in a British stadium. The atmosphere should be one of its selling points. A start time that leaves spectators tired and stranded risks draining the energy from the event, however well it plays on television overseas.
The money behind the fight gives organizers a reason to favor US viewing hours. It does not make 2 a.m. the only possible answer. If the main event can move earlier, even by an hour or two, the people in the stadium would get a better night. Brown said the timing is still being discussed, so no earlier start has been agreed.
His objection puts useful pressure on the organizers before fans make firm plans around a schedule that may yet change.
