By Norm Frauenheim
Speculation continues to circulate that the long-awaited Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua fight, projected for November, will land in the United States instead of the UK.
It gained further traction this week with a report in The Athletic that Las Vegas is a leading possibility.
Reaction: Fury-Joshua belongs in Vegas or any other U.S. city about as much as London Bridge belongs in Lake Havasu City in western Arizona.
It’s a lousy fit, an insult to history and a betrayal of UK fans, who have been waiting on the Fury-Joshua heavyweight showdown for years.
Don’t deny them.
It’s hard to know what to believe about the speculation, especially amid the confusing exchange of taunts and insults that cover boxing’s promotional edifice like obscene graffiti.
Eddie Hearn and Dana White don’t like each other. We get it. They accuse each other of lying and a whole lot of other things that keep lawyers in expensive suits and fans exasperated.
“There are more court cases than I’ve ever seen,’’ Hearn said last week in Glendale, Ariz., before Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez delivered something worth watching in stopping Antonio Vargas at Desert Diamond Arena.
Bam, thanks for a genuine statement amid all the garbage.
What’s missing in all the trolling and legalese are fans. With the advent of Zuffa and it’s ongoing attempt to monopolize the sport, fans are a forgotten factor. Did they get mentioned in the recent US Senate hearings for the Muhammad Ali Boxing Revival Act? Didn’t think so.
But the fear is that UK fans, the biggest and most fiercely loyal demographic anywhere, are about to get screwed. In 1968, the old London Bridge was moved, brick-by-brick, to Arizona and rebuilt over a shallow, muddy piece of water in bleached bone-dry desert.
If they can take away the London Bridge, they can take away Fury-Joshua.
For now, at least, there’s a clause in Joshua’s contract that says the projected fight must happen in the UK, according to Hearn, his promoter. However, there is no similar clause in Fury’s contract, Hearn told Boxing Scene last week.
Meanwhile, Fury showed up at the White House for Dana White’s UFC event Sunday. Fury had come back – he’s always coming back — to the US for the first time in at least five years, reportedly because of his ties to alleged Irish gangster Daniel Kinahan.
Fury, whose promoter-of-record is Frank Warren, talked about plans, some of them presumably about joining Zuffa and White. But it was short on details. More tease than news. Yet, the fact he was in the US – at the White House, no less — suggests he’s open to fighting Joshua in Vegas or any other US city.
Meanwhile, it’s not clear what Joshua thinks. Hearn said his contract can be re-negotiated, including the clause mandating the fight happens in the UK. Saudi Prince and promoter Turki Alalshikh has enough money to change a lot of minds.
“Turki Alalshikh pays the bills,’’ Hearn said.
But UK fans are about to pay the price.
Here’s a better idea:
It’s time for Joshua to step up and speak for UK fans. Time to insist that the fight happens in the UK and only the UK, whose fans have followed him, stuck with him after losses to Andy Ruiz and are fundamental to his wealth and celebrity.
Hearn told The Boxing Hour and The Good Fight last week that he didn’t think it was in Joshua’s personality to take a public stand.
“I don’t think that would be his way,’’ Hearn said. “It’s not in his nature.’’
But it might be time for nature to change. He owes it to the fans who made him.
Elijah Garcia back
Elijah Garcia (17-2, 13 KOs), a prominent prospect a couple of years ago, hopes to get his career back on track at Celebrity Theater in Phoenix Saturday night.
Garcia, now a super-middleweigt from Phoenix, faces Ryan Adams (12-11-1) of Saint Louis.
Garcia is coming off a loss by a debatable majority decision to Kevin Newman in March at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.
The card features Kingsley Ibeh (16-3-1, 14 KOs) against Dante Stone (21-2, 13 KOs) for an Arizona heavyweight title..
First Bell is scheduled for 6 p.m. (PT).
