Frank Warren, co-promoter for WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, has given his take on some of the circulating theories for the recent postponement of Fury’s trilogy fight with Deontay Wilder.
Fury was scheduled to defend his belt against Wilder on July 24th, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Last week, it was revealed that Fury had tested positive for COVID-19 – and as a result the event was pushed back.
On Thursday, the trilogy fight was officially rescheduled to October 9, at the same venue.
But, never everyone was fully convinced of the explanation behind the new date.
Eddie Hearn, promoter for unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, gave his take on the matter in a recent interview.
“There was no broadcaster in the UK announced. You know [Fury] has a contract with BT [Sport]? They never announced the fight. They sold no tickets,” Hearn told the DAZN Boxing Show.
“Basically, you could go online and check. I don’t know whether it was 25% or 30% of the tickets have been sold, but that’s disastrous. There was no hype. This was going to do very, very poor pay-per-view numbers.”
Warren disputes Hearn’s claims regarding the ticket sales.
And, he further states that a UK broadcaster was already secured and the announcement was delayed when Fury’s diagnosis became known.
“There have been a lot of conspiracy theories floating around as to why Tyson Fury against Deontay Wilder was postponed. One of those is supposedly a lack of ticket sales. That theory has been pushed by Eddie Hearn this week,” Warren told Daily Star.
“Yet Bob Arum has informed me that $14m (£10.1m) worth of tickets had been sold for the July 24 date at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. That is without UK fans being allowed to travel over because of the current restrictions on getting into the US. So anyone claiming ticket sales is the reason is talking a load of nonsense.
“As has been explained, there was a COVID outbreak in Fury’s camp so we have had to push the bout back until October 9. It is a great shame because everyone was excited for the fight but everyone will be raring to go in the autumn. US fans were buying tickets because they’re desperate for big events after lockdown. While the casinos in Las Vegas were snapping them up for their high rollers, too.
“Just imagine how many more tickets could have been sold on fight week when tourists from across the US were enjoying a summer break in Vegas. And contrary to other speculation, there was no issue getting a UK TV broadcaster. That was set to be made official until we found out the fight had to be delayed. Fury against Wilder has to happen next, that is what the US judge said and it will. We just have to wait a little longer and the heavyweight division remains clogged up at the top.”