‘The fans in the last fight put in almost $17m into the coffers in purchase of tickets… how do you replace that?’: Tyson Fury’s trilogy bout with Deontay Wilder may have to ‘wait a couple more months’ beyond October so it’s safe for spectators, warns Bob Arum
The highly-anticipated trilogy fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder may not now happen for its scheduled October slate due to a projected loss of $17million (£13.8m) in ticket sales if it happened without fans.
That’s the view of Fury’s American promoter Bob Arum, who says the clash may have to ‘wait a couple more months’ to enable spectators to be ringside and therefore generate revenue streams akin to the second bout.
After Fury won the second bout in February, plans for the third installment were originally scheduled for July 18 in Las Vegas before the coronavirus pandemic hit. As a result, plans are now in place for it to take happen in October.
Tyson Fury’s (right) trilogy fight vs Deontay Wilder (left) is doubtful for October, says Bob Arum
However, there are fears that date could result in it being fought behind closed doors as Covid-19 continues to take its grip sadly.
The notion of the two heavyweights fighting without fans doesn’t appeal to Arum who cites the significant financial drawbacks of doing so.
According to boxingscene, the initial rematch generated $16,916,440 in live gate revenue from 15,210 tickets sold – a figure Arum doesn’t wish to miss out on.
‘It’s one thing to take events that were done with 2-3,000 people and do them now without crowds,’ he told Top Rank’s Crystina Poncher in an interview as part of the ongoing ‘Catching Up With Crystina’ series.
‘It’s not nearly as egregious as doing a Tyson Fury-Wilder fight without fans.’
‘When the fans in the last fight put in almost $17 million into the coffers in purchase of tickets… how do you replace that $17 million? I mean, you don’t. You can’t.
‘A Fury-Wilder fight might have to wait a couple more months until we can go back to full spectators. For a sport like boxing when big events where the gate money is so much a big percentage of the revenue, I don’t see how you can do it without spectators.’
In February’s bout, Fury won the WBC heavyweight title from Wilder with a seventh-round TKO. The Gypsy King’s unbeaten record now stands at 30-0-1 with 21 knockouts, while American Wilder is 42-1-1 with 41KOs.