Dereck Chisora hoping to move heavyweight bout against Oleksandr Usyk to Saudi Arabia with Kingdom expected to lift coronavirus measures sooner than Britain
- Dereck Chisora is hopeful of moving his world title eliminator to Saudi Arabia
- The heavyweight fighter is ‘looking to see if we can go sooner’ with the bout
- The Kingdom is expected to lift its coronavirus lockdown sooner than Britain
- Chisora and manager David Haye are seeking solutions to travel shutdowns
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
Dereck Chisora is hoping to beat Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte to the punch by moving his heavyweight fight to Saudi Arabia as soon as the Kingdom lifts its lockdown.
The Saudis are expected to ease social distancing restrictions earlier than Britain and Chisora says he is ‘looking to see if we can go sooner’ with his world title eliminator against Oleksandr Usyk.
Chisora knows there is likely to be a Sky Sports pay-per-view log-jam once the UK opens up to a staging of Joshua’s defence of his belts against Kubrat Pulev and Whyte’s attempt to cement his mandatory challenger position by beating Alexander Povetkin.
Dereck Chisora hopes to move his world title eliminator with Oleksandr Usyk to Saudi Arabia
All three fights are among the many promotions suspended during the coronavirus crisis.
Chisora and his manager David Haye are seeking solutions to travel shut downs between the UK and Saudi Arabia, which is also eager to take to Riyadh any future undisputed championship fight between Joshua and Tyson Fury.
And Matchroom Boxing chief Eddie Hearn has admitted that UK-based blockbuster bouts may have to be moved abroad depending on the state of the pandemic.
He said: ‘I was due to have a show in Saudi Arabia in the first week of July, that is unlikely now.
Riyadh wants to host any highly-anticipated clash between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury
Matchroom Boxing chief Eddie Hearn admitted that blockbuster bouts may be moved abroad
‘I do think everywhere will be different, I don’t think all the global governments are going to get together and say something like: “From July 1, sport worldwide is allowed”.
‘Some sports will start a lot sooner, in some countries, than others and Saudi could be one of the countries that gets on top of it sooner.
‘We need to put these fights on somewhere, whether they are British title fights, our prospects, world title fights of pay-per-view fights.
‘Ideally we would want them where we scheduled them but I also would not rule out the bigger fights going international.’