Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are now being lined up to fight on December 11 in Cardiff. The date remains provisional because organizers still need to complete the permit process and other administrative work.
“Per a source with direct involvement, #JoshuaFury, if all is 100% buttoned up, will be on Dec. 11 in Cardiff. Still will take some time to wrap up the bureaucracy of getting permits in place,” Dan Rafael reported.
November 28 and December 4 were also discussed. Moving the fight onto a Friday shows how awkward the planning has become for an event intended to restore British interest in two former heavyweight champions.
The broadcast schedule may explain the unusual choice. A Friday avoids some of the major football and American sports competition found on Saturdays, but it transfers the burden onto ticket buyers. December 11 is a regular working day, forcing many traveling supporters to miss work and pay for accommodation.
The situation becomes far worse if broadcasters demand an extremely late ring walk for the American audience. Trains will not run throughout the night, hotel prices will climb, and thousands of spectators may be stranded in central Cardiff after leaving the stadium.
Permits may become the hardest part. Cardiff officials must consider policing, alcohol sales, noise restrictions and the movement of tens of thousands of people during the early morning hours. “Bureaucracy” may sound routine, but granting permission for a stadium crowd to empty onto the streets long after midnight presents a genuine safety issue.
The extra two weeks also do little to answer the competitive questions. Fury will have been inactive for almost two years after looking shopworn in his second loss to Oleksandr Usyk. His legs no longer carried him through sustained exchanges as comfortably as they once did.
Joshua’s brief knockout of Jake Paul did nothing to test his stamina, defense or response to legitimate heavyweight power. Neither man has recently endured a serious fight against an elite heavyweight.
Fury vs. Joshua will sell through name recognition and old rivalry, but the timing reflects what the matchup has become. A fight once meant to decide heavyweight supremacy is now being forced through late-hour permits and Friday scheduling while both fighters approach 40.
Read the full article here