Frank Warren says there is “nothing concrete” as the search continues for a site to host Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder 3 later this year.
Warren, who co-promotes Fury along with Top Rank’s Bob Arum, says the pandemic is continuing to cause havoc with planning, particularly Stateside.
Arum had hoped that Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas – the new $2billion home of the Las Vegas Raiders – would be able to host the bout on Saturday December 19.
However the Raiders have announced that their gleaming new facility will be closed to fans for the entirety of the 2020 football season. Arum meanwhile has mooted the possibility that the bout may have to be further delayed to February 2021.
Warren told the Boxing News podcast: “It’s (the fight) contracted, there’s no talks to be had, it’s contracted. All we’re trying to do is to find a venue. The only talks to take place now are ‘this is the date’. We’re working very hard to find a venue or a site that we can make sure we can generate enough income from to ensure the guys get the purses that they are due to get.
“They’re talking about Vegas in December, there’s been offers from a couple of other countries from around the world, but as I’m sitting here now, there’s nothing concrete because everybody’s in the same boat, no-one knows what’s happening.
“Some countries like the States for example, they’ve got big problems there, haven’t they. Vegas, I think MGM just laid off 18,000 people last week. So Vegas is not in a healthy state that’s for sure, financially, let alone being unhealthy anyway because of the pandemic. So there’s problems everywhere, it’s the world we live in at the moment unfortunately.”
Warren said he is in a similar situation with the eagerly-awaited domestic showdown between unbeaten heavyweight prospects Daniel Dubois (15-0) and Joe Joyce (11-0). They are due to meet at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday October 24, but Warren is currently awaiting updates from the UK Government on how many spectators would be allowed into the venue.
“We’ve gotta see what happens. It was nigh on sold out, we only had about 800 or so tickets let when it was supposed to take place in April, which is a great shame,” he said.
“It is what is, we’ve postponed it a couple of times, we’re hoping to get it on on the 24th (October). We hope we get some news some time next week from the Government as to where we are gonna be with crowds.
“We put the fight together based on a sellout, that was how we generate the income, that’s what we were looking at. We’re looking at various options now to see how we’re gonna make it work.”
