Tyson Fury has shown support for Cardiff as the place for his long-awaited fight with Anthony Joshua. He sees fighting in Wales as a chance to come home.
The fight is set for Friday, December 11, at the Principality Stadium. Cardiff is now the top choice over New York and the Middle East.
Discussions between both teams and Netflix, the broadcaster, are ongoing. An announcement could come soon, possibly this week.
Fury made his choice known in an Instagram post. He shared a picture of himself at the stadium with a Welsh dragon behind him.
“If this fight happens in Wales, this will be amazing. All my mother’s people are from Wales. It will be like a homecoming,” he wrote.
Joshua’s contract for the fight says it must be in the United Kingdom. This rules out Madison Square Garden in New York and other locations in the Middle East.
Since Wembley Stadium does not have a roof, Cardiff stands out as the best option. The Principality Stadium hosted Joshua’s win over Carlos Takam back in 2017, with a crowd of 78,000.
If the fight is confirmed, Cardiff will have a busy weekend. The city is already crowded with Christmas shoppers. Hotel rooms are getting hard to find, with the Hilton, Parkgate, and Marriott fully booked for fight night.
Planning could still face challenges due to the stadium’s 1am curfew. Organisers want to keep American TV audiences happy.
Cardiff Council said they haven't received any request yet to extend the curfew. They added that any request would take 28 days to process.
Fury's support for Cardiff is a change from earlier talks. Initially, Cardiff's Principality Stadium was suggested when plans for a fight at Wembley hit hurdles over broadcasting needs.
Netflix is said to want a fight time that attracts interest from its American viewers. This would mean the fight starting in the early hours of the morning in the UK, which Wembley’s curfew cannot allow.
Drop your comment
No comments yet — be the first to drop the gist 👇