Tyson Fury’s fighting return to the UK WILL go ahead in London on December 5 regardless of whether fans can attend with German heavyweight Agit Kabayel given 24 hour deadline to accept fight – as Anthony Joshua plans to move his fight abroad
- Tyson Fury’s homecoming fight in December will happen with or without fans
- The Gypsy King is looking for a warm up fight before taking on Anthony Joshua
- AJ has not fought in almost a year and is doubtful amid the absence of fans
- Undefeated German Agit Kabayel is the frontrunner to take on the WBC champ
Tyson Fury’s homecoming world heavyweight title fight will go ahead in London on December 5 with or without fans.
Germany’s undefeated former European champion Agit Kabayel has been given 24 hours to accept an offer to challenge the Gypsy King for the WBC belt.
Two other large heavyweights are waiting in the queue as promoter Frank Warren confirms the fight will go ahead even in the likely event it will have to be behind closed doors even if the national lockdown really ends three days earlier as promised.
Tyson Fury’s homecoming fight on December 5 will go ahead with or without attending fans
The Gypsy King will return to the UK as he prepares to take on Anthony Joshua in 2021
This decision follows doubts arising about Anthony Joshua’s defence of his WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO titles against Kubrat Pulev seven days later.
AJ’s promoter has made it clear that fight will have to be partially financed by crowd attendance as well as pay-per-view TV revenue if it is so go ahead, so may have to be moved abroad if the doors are not opened to spectators.
That raises the risk, also, of the fight for which Pulev has waited so long as mandatory contender not taking place.
There are doubts as to whether AJ will fight in the UK while fans are prohibited from attending
Joshua may delay his reappearance in the ring after almost a year’s inaction until early spring.
By then the opponent could be Fury in the more eagerly anticipated title unifying blockbuster or Olexsandr Usyk, whose victory over Dereck Chisora on Saturday maintained his status as mandatory challenger for Joshua’s WBO title.
Hearn was leaning that way along with Johsua after they watched Usyk comfortably outpoint Chisora but without convincing most observers that he is big or powerful enough to seriously trouble the top heavyweights following his move up from cruiserweight.
Undefeated German Agit Kabayel is the frontrunner to fight the WBC heavyweight champion
The heavyweight has been given a 24 hour deadline to accept the bout with the Gypsy King
‘One hundred per cent,’ says Hearn, ‘ it will be Usyk in the spring if we can’t finalise with Fury.’
Fury will be facing a big man in December even if Kabayel, who has also beaten Chisora, declines. Two 6ft 5in giants – Canada’s Simon Kean and Australia’s Dempsey McKean are next in line.