Eddie Hearn, promoter for IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, explained the Middle East scenario for staging the full division indication with WBC champion Tyson Fury.
Both boxers are on board with the fight – but there is still no concrete date or venue.
According to Hearn, several offers will be presented to both teams this week.
The agreement calls for two fights to take place in 2021.
At the moment the first bout is being targeted for dates in July.
Hearn explained that the Middle East has arenas that are already in place to host the event.
“Nothing is ideal,” Hearn told Sky Sports. “If it was ideal, we’d just be in Wembley with 100,000.
“But I don’t know whether Tyson Fury would accept that offer. We may see on Sunday. But if it’s 20,000 or 15,000 in an arena, all the Middle East offers have been based on an indoor arena. We know it’s hot there in July, of course, so there is no option to go outside. It has to be in an indoor arena and those arenas are already in place, ready to stage this fight.
“We had a great experience [in Saudi Arabia] back in December 2019, with Anthony Joshua against Andy Ruiz, so they are players that we know are for real. We’ve been through the process with them. They gave us their word on what they would deliver and they did that. It was a fantastic event. Most people would prefer it to be a little bit later, but that’s not what’s on the table. We want two [Joshua vs Fury] fights this year and the first one will be in the summer.”
Fury is becoming impatient with the situation, as he wants to get back to fighting with a growing gap of inactivity. He’s been out of the ring since February 2020, when he stopped Deontay Wilder in seven rounds to capture the WBC title.