Saudi Arabia has emerged as the most likely location to host the highly anticipated undisputed showdown between British heavyweight champions Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
Both camps have received mouthwatering offers in abundance from the likes of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, USA and Australia.
But it’s Saudi Arabia which has emerged as the bookies’ favourite to host the mega-fight.
Though initially raising some eyebrows, Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz 2, which was held in Saudi Arabia, went down as an undeniable success.
Promoter Eddie Hearn admitted at the time that money played its role choosing in the location, which would be a significant factor once more.
While Joshua’s rematch with Ruiz was held in the purpose-built 15,000 capacity Diriyah Arena, it’s the KASC Sports Hall that has emerged as the most likely venue this time round.
The stadium, nicknamed ‘The Shining Jewel’ is Saudi Arabia’s newest of its kind and can seat 60,000 fans.
On Monday Hearn announced on Monday that a £200million two-fight deal has been signed.
Hearn also revealed that the date and location are among the finer details still to be finalised, though the bookies have now touted May as the likely fight month.
The Matchroom boss has been persistently positive about the negotiations throughout, repeatedly disregarding claims from Fury himself, who on several occasions denied that talks were progressing well.
Hearn’s optimism now appears to have been justified, after he unveiled the big news.
“All sides have now put pen to paper on what will be the biggest fight in boxing,” he told Sportsmail.
“We will now collectively look at the best site deal. We have had a lot of offers and now we will go over the details and see what works the best for this historic fight.
“The agreement is for two fights and getting the names on contracts is a huge step. We will hopefully be in a position to confirm details on where and when in the next month.”
He added: “We’d like to get a site deal confirmed in the next month.
“We’ve already had approaches from eight or nine sites. The offers have come from multiple countries in the Middle East, from Asia, Eastern Europe and America.
“The hard part is always getting everybody to put pen to paper but this was a major effort from all parties to get this over the line.”
