UK ruled out for AJ v Fury mega-fight

THE prospects of Anthony Joshua’s super-fight with Tyson Fury taking place in the UK have been killed off by the most recent lockdown, with Singapore the latest country bidding to stage the showdown for the undisputed heavyweight title. There was only ever a slim chance of the clash happening in this country in late May or early June because of the financial necessity of a full crowd, but promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed that the increased restrictions have removed the possibility altogether. The Middle East remains the most likely destination — with approaches receive received from Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Qatar — and there is further interest in the US a and China. Hearn told Sportsmail yesterday that Singapore had also emerged as a possibility for a fight that will require a major site fee to help cover purses that could go as high as £100million for each of the British rivals. With the fighters’ financial split a agreed at 50-50, with the winner then slated to receive 60-40 for the rematch, He Hearn is ‘optimistic’ that the remaining details of the deal, including the fight’s location, can be finalised in the next two weeks. He said: ‘Even before this current situation, there was no guarantee that we would do the first fight in the UK because it was almost impossible that we would get clearance to have, say, 90,000 at Wembley in late May. Now it is far, far more likely that it will be abroad. ‘There have been a lot of conversations between both sides in the past couple of weeks and we’re optimistic that we can tie up stuff in the next fortnight.’ Hearn also indicated that WBO super-middleweight world champion Billy Joe Saunders will learn next week if he has landed a unification bout with Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez. A Saunders and IBF holder Caleb Plant have each held talks over a May 5 fight against Canelo.