Saudi Arabia ready to host £400MILLION Tyson Fury showdown… after four members of royal family were seen at ringside in Las Vegas
- Saudi Arabia could host a £400m bout between Tyson Fury and an opponent
- Fury could either face Wilder in a trilogy bout or even Anthony Joshua next
- Four members of the Saudi royal family were present ringside in Las Vegas
- They consider no one in sport to be bigger now than the triumphant Fury
The Saudi Arabians are tabling a gigantic bid for Tyson Fury’s next fight, be it a second rematch with Deontay Wilder or a British bonanza against Anthony Joshua.
Four members of the Saudi royal family sat incognito at ringside here on Saturday night as Fury transformed not only himself with a phenomenal crushing of the biggest puncher in ring history but also the entire landscape of heavyweight boxing.
The Saudi party dressed in Western fashion was led by Prince Khaled, which will alarm Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn. It was with this high-ranking dignitary that he collaborated on AJ’s vastly enriching December rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr in Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia is ready to host a £400 million fight between Tyson Fury and his next opponent
Khaled, who is delegated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to bring to Saudi Arabia the major sports events which can polish the nation’s troubled human rights image.
They consider nothing and no-one bigger now than the Gypsy King, who not only established himself as the pre-eminent heavyweight in the world today with the outstanding performance overseas by any British fighter in history but also reaffirmed his reputation as the ring’s great entertainer.
The Saudis were given a preview of Fury the showman when he made a pilot appearance in WWE wrestling in Riyadh before Christmas and it seems not to matter to them whoever Fury fights, nor in what order. He is seen as the key to unlocking a floodgate of international tourism.
Joshua banked $85 million for regaining his collection of belts from Ruiz in a temporary arena there. Now they envisage a series of fights for Fury in the national stadium, the first in October, which could make him rich beyond the dreams of Croesus.
Who against? Most likely Wilder, who has 30 days in which to decide whether to risk another hospitalising beating in a trilogy fight or to accept a substantial step-aside offer which would trigger immediate but difficult negotiations with Joshua.
Fury has been tipped to take on Anthony Joshua next, who banked $85m for regaining his belts
The Saudis envisage a series of fights for Fury at the national stadium, starting from October
The latter would be the healthier but the man from Tuscaloosa is a proud warrior and regards himself as fighting for the honour of black America. Also, if doesn’t meet Fury again he will be left bereft of a major fight.
Fury expects the Bronze Bomber to gird himself for another battle. He is talking of their second rematch taking place at the newly constructed football stadium here, which is soon to be home to the relocated Angeles Raiders.
That is improbable since the overwhelming manner of Fury’s victory will inevitably reduce the US public’s box office appetite for a third fight. We all know the result already.
Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren says: ‘We are receiving loads of offers for Fury. It could be back here but whether it’s Wilder or Joshua it would be huge back in London. Whoever, Tyson is now very much the A-side, the world’s No 1 attraction. We are way past all that nonsense about Joshua wanting 65 or 70 per cent of the purse. If anything, it’s the other way around now.
‘Whether AJ will even want to take the fight, we don’t know. What he does know is that he would get knocked out even harder than Wilder now that Tyson has changed his style.’
Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren revealed his camp are inundated with offers for the star
That switch from dancing defence to deadly attack was as astonishing as the execution of the strategy, devised as it was in only eight weeks by his new Kronk trainer Javan SugarHill Steward.
Be warned, all out there in the heavyweight gyms, when Fury says: ‘This is the way I’m going to be boxing from now on. I should have done this before.’
Perhaps even more extraordinary is his journey from public pariah – as a consequence of this devout Catholic’s Bible-based remarks – to being quoted now at sharply shortened bookmaker’s odds not only to win the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year Award but to be knighted.
That would have been inconceivable before this ring redemption as a second-time world champion, accomplished by seizing the WBC and Ring magazine belts while climbing out of a mental health pit of deep, chronic depression.
Warren says: ‘It has been an honour to help this man achieve one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history, if not the greatest.’
It is a privilege to have watched it and it will be thrilling to see it continue, wherever that takes him in a world which is now at his feet.