Saudi authorities want overseas fans to be able to attend Anthony Joshua’s fight against Tyson Fury on August 14, says promoter Eddie Hearn.
The pair are set to contest all four world heavyweight titles in a highly-anticipated bout this summer.
Hearn now says August 14 is a date both sides have agreed to and that while the fight is not officially confirmed, only administrative tasks remain.
“The Saudi plan is to allow international travellers,” said Hearn.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Hearn added: “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.”
The date earmarked for the fight means Joshua, 31, should have trainer Rob McCracken in his corner. McCracken heads up GB Boxing and is expected to be at the Olympics until the Games ends on August 8.
Hearn says Saudi organisers are eyeing capital city Riyadh or Jeddah to play host and that they intend to build an outdoor arena - as they did for Joshua’s rematch win over Andy Ruiz Jr in December 2019.
The team behind the event in Saudi have reportedly put forward $150m (£107m) for the right to play host. The fighters will then split more when pay-per-view revenues are added in.
“They want to build a stadium,” said Hearn. “It’s 24 degrees at 11pm at night in August, which is not horrendous. They want to make it a spectacle.
“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.”
Hearn says he understands Fury’s team need to feel “comfortable” with the offer as they have not worked with the Saudi organisers before. Fury’s team recently said the 32-year-old would not sign a contract for the fight until the funds he is set to receive were guaranteed by a bank.
“Team Fury need to be comfortable, which they pretty much are,” Hearn added. “The words and the feeling out of both camps should give you the security that this fight is happening and August 14 is the date.”
Hearn says he has no ‘Plan B’ for Joshua other than the proposed contest, and that Fury has no desire to face anyone else.
“Fury’s said to me numerous times, ‘Hurry up,’” Hearn added. “Everyone wants this. Any other fight would be a monumental let-down. We would all be doing a disservice to boxing if the fight didn’t take place.
“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.”
Joshua will risk his WBO, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles and has lost once in 25 fights while Fury will put his WBC belt on the line and is undefeated in 31 outings.
No heavyweight in history has held all four recognised world titles before. (bbcsport)