Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are set to finally meet in the boxing ring later this year, but the fight is expected to take place in the United States on a weekday, according to reports.
The British heavyweight titans are 'almost certain' to clash on American soil, with Madison Square Garden touted as the likely venue. The bout is next in line after Joshua came back from a tough first round to knock out Kristian Prenga, while Fury earned a win over Mariusz Wach in Thailand.
US venue and Friday date
Netflix have pushed for the fight to be held in the United States, according to Sports Illustrated, and are pushing for a Friday evening to avoid a clash with College Football. This means UK broadcasting convention will be swept aside, and viewers may have to stay up into the early hours to watch their countrymen clash.
November 20 is being mooted as a possible date for the contest. Netflix has only deviated from its Friday schedule on one previous occasion, when Terence Crawford beat Canelo Alvarez last September.
Fury's uncertainty and Hearn's contract claim
Speaking earlier this year, Fury was in the dark about the fight's location: "I'll regroup, and hopefully the next big fight is signed next week, and we head wherever we're going to head. Who the f*** knows," he said. "Is it gonna be in Vegas? Is it gonna be in New York? Is it gonna be in Ireland? Is it gonna be in London? Who knows, Belfast maybe? It might even be here in Pattaya, Thailand!"
Meanwhile, AJ's promoter Eddie Hearn has stated that the bout agreement stipulates that the fight must occur in the United Kingdom. "It's done. We signed a legally binding contract about three months ago," Hearn said. "There's a reason that we put contracts together. There's a reason AJ employs lawyers, there's a reason that me and him sit down and have endless conversations to make sure every move is correct. We insisted that this fight was in the UK. I know AJ will sometimes want to be a peace-keeper, but the reality is he said to me 'I want the fight in the UK.'"
Hearn has subsequently acknowledged: "There was never any doubt this fight was in the UK until there were some approaches from America in terms of the revenue that could be achieved at MSG. Netflix are probably saying they prefer it there and these are elements that we don't actually have any control over because we're not really the purse strings behind the fight, Turki Al-Sheikh is. When you sign a contract, you expect that to be honoured and followed, and we've never done a deal with Turki where he hasn't done that. I don't think he's trying to pull a fast one. I think he's paying a lot of money for the fight, and he wants to make it as big a success for every stakeholder involved."
