Eddie Hearn says Saudi Arabia plans to welcome overseas fans for the world heavyweight title showdown between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
A date of August 14th has been pencilled in for the lucrative super-fight, although the contest has yet to be officially confirmed by both sides.
The pair are set to contest all four world heavyweight titles and Hearn’s comments open up the prospect of British fans travelling to the Gulf state in three months’ time.
“The Saudi plan is to allow international travellers,” Joshua’s promoter Hearn told BBC Sport.
“Pandemic permitting, I’d like to think by August you’d have the ability to travel to Saudi for this fight.
“They may have precautions in place, whether that’s vaccine related or testing.
“I’m sure all countries will adopt different policies worldwide. But their aim is to attract overseas travellers.”
Cold blooded 🩸 pic.twitter.com/MuMKUUAHYH
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyjoshua) May 12, 2021
Saudi Arabia’s capital city Riyadh or Jeddah are expected to play host as Joshua defends his WBO, WBA and IBF titles and Fury puts his WBC belt on the line.
Hearn says the Saudis intend to build an outdoor arena as they did for Joshua’s rematch win over Andy Ruiz Jr in December 2019.
“They want to build a stadium,” Hearn said. “It’s 24 degrees at 11pm at night in August, which is not horrendous.
“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.”
“We’ve worked with these people before. It was extremely successful. They delivered on all their promises.
“These deals take a lot of time to go through. There is a lot of paperwork, financial information and Escrow accounts you have to go through.
“When that process has been done before it makes it a lot easier. Team Fury need to be comfortable, which they pretty much are.”
The August 14th date will avoid a clash with the Tokyo Olympics, which are scheduled to finish six days earlier, and that should allow an even greater global audience.
Hearn said: “The words and the feeling out of both camps should give you the security that this fight is happening and 14 August is the date.
“It has been difficult and has taken a month more than I anticipated but we need it.
“It is one of the biggest fights of all time. The whole world will stop for boxing. It shows you that when you get it right, this sport is huge.”
The conclusion of the Olympics should also mean that Joshua will have trainer Rob McCracken, who heads up GB Boxing, in his corner.
