Fury-Wilder third fight on move out of Vegas?

The currently postponed third fight between WBC heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury and former champ, Deontay Wilder is still a priority to be held before the end of 2020 for Top Rank Boxing and Premier Boxing Champions. However, a report Tuesday afternoon says it may not be in the United States or even, the United Kingdom.

Boxingscene.com senior writer Keith Idec wrote after speaking with Top Rank’s Bob Arum that he is making it clear that they intend for the fight to take place in either November or December. But, it will be at a viable location, where they can have lots of fans and heavy revenue from a live gate:

Arum: Third Fury-Wilder Fight Probably Will Be Held Outside Of U.S. & UK https://t.co/woOWu7tYhg pic.twitter.com/VbOVa3bxNz

— BoxingScene.com (@boxingscene) May 19, 2020

Idec quoted Arum, as saying about this about the proposed move of the flight from Vegas where it had been scheduled for July, originally and then tentatively, rescheduled for October due to the Covid-19 pandemic:

“We have proposals from entities in two countries that we’re considering now,” Arum said. “And when they become more concrete, which will probably be in the next week or two weeks, we’ll run them by the PBC people because, after all, they’re our partners in that promotion. And hopefully then we’ll make an announcement.

Right now, we’re looking to do that fight in the fourth quarter of the year and we’re probably gonna be doing it outside of the United States and outside of the United Kingdom.”

And, Arum made clear that they can’t have the fight with no or very little high paying fans, “You can’t do that event without making up for the $17 million in gate revenue that you would otherwise lose. You can’t do it.”

Fury re-captured a portion of the Heavyweight Crown in February with a dominant 7th round TKO of the former unbeaten champ Wilder. Wilder immediately exercised the built-in automatic third fight rematch clause to get another shot at the Englishman.

There is a possibility that Arum could be negotiating for the fight to be in the Middle East. Last December, Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing staged the World Unified Heavyweight title rematch  there between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz. Joshua ended up recapturing his titles by 12-round decision with a lucrative live gate for the fight held just outside of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Fury, who is currently lives in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England, would obviously love to fight in the U.K., if not in Vegas. However, it doesn’t seem like there will be any fights held with fans in Britain until at least November, if at all, the rest of this year. And, you certainly could not plan and promote to hold a fight with fans there anytime in the near future.

Meanwhile, a source tells Big Fight Weekend that Las Vegas still very much wants to hold the third Fury-Wilder fight due to the huge economic boost it could give the area. And, that they may entertain the possibility of having the fight either inside with less capacity and therefore much higher priced tickets, while still using social distancing.

Or Fury-Wilder III could also have an outside venue with more people able to attend and easier for social distancing purposes.

However, it’s also problematic with the Las Vegas weather for the fight to be outside in November or December, as it traditionally very cold at night then, in the desert.

One other speculated option is the new 80,000+ seat indoor Alegiant Stadium that will be opened this fall and be home to the Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL.