Eddie Hearn reveals that Saudi Arabia will construct a venue that will ‘shock the world’

Eddie Hearn says that the Battle of Britain between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will take place in a specially-built stadium that will ‘shock the world’ as an announcement over the mega-fight edges closer. 

Joshua’s promoter Hearn said this week that the heavyweight unification fight, which has been described as ‘a done deal’, would take place in Saudi Arabia on August 14. 

The Matchroom Boxing chief took a world tour to scout out destinations for the super-fight, with AJ and Fury agreeing to meet for the first of their two bouts in the Middle East.

The British heavyweight rivals have agreed to meet in the Middle East for their mega-fight

Team Fury are waiting for ‘certain assurances’ over the finances of the £150m fight, while Hearn says that the focus is now on building a ‘special’ new arena to host the event, with an official fight announcement expected soon. 

‘They [Saudi Arabia] want to build a new stadium,’ Hearn told Sky Sports. ‘They have indoors options. In August at 11pm it will be about 23 degrees.

‘They want to create something very, very special. Last time they built a stadium for the Andy Ruiz Jr fight in just seven weeks and it held 18,000. This will be a similar set-up.’

Hearn added that the Saudis are looking to ‘shock the world’ with the specially-built venue.

And Hearn says that the Saudis will build a new venue for the £150m showdown this summer

An 18,000-seater venue was constructed for AJ’s rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr in December 2019

‘They have the opportunity to hold it indoors but they want to create something that will shock the world. They want to build a stadium just for this fight.’ 

August 7 had been mooted as a potential date for the heavyweight fight, but Fury’s UK promoter, Frank Warren, says that the Olympics in Tokyo, where AJ’s trainer Rob McCracken is coaching, makes that date a no-go.

‘It definitely won’t be on August 7 because that’s when the Olympic games are on and that’s going to be a problem for TV,’ he told talkSPORT. ‘Besides that, you’ve got a UFC PPV in the States and UK. 

‘So if it goes on, it’ll be on August 14. I don’t think the date is the problem at all, I think everyone’s agreed that can be moved to August 14.’

The final details of the fight need to be agreed by Fury’s team after comments made by his UK and US promoters Frank Warren (L) and Bob Arum (R) 

The public back-and-forth between the two camps has left fans – who are desperate to see the pair meet in the ring – frustrated that the deal is not officially over the line.

Hearn said on Tuesday that negotiations are now at a point where the deal must be closed. 

‘We’re in a stage where people are getting frustrated. The deal is done.  

‘Now we’re on the finer details of the contract, which came back last Friday. It went back last night. They are on calls now in the office about it, and I think at some point people are going to have to take a little bit of a leap of faith in this deal.

‘From our perspective and AJ’s perspective, we’re ready to go. From Tyson Fury’s perspective, they’ve got a couple of lawyers across it from their point.

‘There’s no reason why it shouldn’t happen this week. This is kind of like the moment where you could actually turn around at this point and say, “This is dragging on too long, or I can’t be dealing with this anymore”.

‘But we have to nail this, and I’m not going to stop until I nail it, and everyone has just got to move forward collectively. 

‘We’re ready to go from our side. We’re not far away from their side and it is inevitable, but at the same time, we’ve got to close the door on it.’