Tyson Fury will have obtained guarantees from Saudi Defense Secretary Prince Khalid Abdulaziz Al Saud that his four-belt heavyweight unification battle with Anthony Joshua will take place on Aug. 14 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
"I just got off the phone with Saudi Prince Khalid," Tyson Fury said in a video shared on Twitter on Sunday morning. "He assured me that the war will take place on August 14, 2021... The whole planet will be watching the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. And I can't wait to smash Anthony Joshua on the greatest stage of all time. This would be the largest athletic event ever to take place on the globe."
Even Fury's American promoter, Bob Arum, who has been more circumspect and voiced reservations about the big, planned $155 million contract, was encouraged Sunday morning.
"We still haven't gotten the final contracts; we're expected to get a clean draft on Monday," Arum said. "But Prince Khalid has promised Tyson that there will be no complications, and anyone who has met with Prince Khalid and his team knows them to be men of their word."
The platform fee, as previously stated by ESPN, is $155 million, according to reports. According to the reports, the funds will contain $75 million for Fury and Joshua, as per their March deal, and $5 million for "expenses and undercard."
The platform fee exceeds the previous mark of $60 million set for Joshua's rematch with then-champion Andy Ruiz in December 2019 in Saudi Arabia.
Arum stated that Fury vs Joshua Live Stream will take place in Jeddah, a resort city on the Red Sea that is cooler than the other potential location, Riyadh. Arum predicted that the war will take place "about midnight Saudi time," or 5 p.m. ET in the United States.
"This is the best battle in boxing and one of the biggest sports activities in the nation," Joshua's manager, Eddie Hearn, told ESPN in March when the two British champions agreed to a two-fight contract. This platform charge only extends to their first fight, not a replay.
Hearn, who signed the 2019 contract with Prince Khalid's squad, has been influential in these talks, staying openly hopeful amid a growing chorus of skeptics. Arum expected the battle to be "lying in the sea" in late April.
The negotiations have been arduous. In recent days, a problem emerged due to what the promoters see as an overly vague force majeure clause that would have enabled the Saudis to stage the battle at any time before December 31. "Apparently, that's all been settled," Arum said.
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