Anthony Joshua has admitted he is powerless to prevent the biggest fight in British boxing history from being shipped overseas. The self-appointed "landlord" of the Battle of Britain conceded that the decision on where the long-awaited clash with Tyson Fury takes place is not his to make.
Joshua's authority limited
Joshua declared himself the "landlord" when he refused to join Fury in the ring earlier this year to promote the fight, asserting that what he says goes. However, that authority does not extend to the showdown's postcode. When both men signed to fight each other in April, the contracts included a clause that has allowed broadcaster Netflix to be spooked at the prospect of an afternoon start time across the Atlantic.
Our national stadium remains in the running to play host, but only if the first bell can ring as late as 4am. That has seen Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York throw their hats into the ring.
Joshua speaks on location control
"Everyone controls a certain operation in the organisation and that is not my operation," Joshua said. "I am the landlord but, for example, my job is not to manage the staff rosters and what time they come in and who opens the store. So it's not my operation as to what time the fight will be."
Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Al-Sheikh will ultimately decide the fate of the fight. Promoter Eddie Hearn added: "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 over there. When you sign a contract, you expect it to be honoured and followed but 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; he’s paying a lot of money for the fight, and he wants to make it as big a success for every stakeholder involved. If that means moving it to somewhere else, that's a conversation we'll have to have but we all hope, and we'd like to insist, that it’s in the UK."
Hearn noted that under old contracts, the fight would have been locked to the UK, but the relationship and the money involved have changed the dynamic.
