AJ vs Tyson Fury site deal set to be confirmed, despite Bob Arum's shock claim

Tyson Fury’s eagerly anticipated heavyweight showdown with Anthony Joshua is set to move a step closer towards being confirmed, with a site deal worth a staggering $150 million likely to be rubber-stamped this weekend.

The Gypsy King’s veteran promoter, Bob Arum, had piled the pressure on his Matchroom rival Eddie Hearn earlier this week, warning that any further delay could put the fight in jeopardy and force Fury to consider locking horns with Deontay Wilder for a third time, instead.

Arum went a step further on Thursday night, claiming the all-British contest was ‘dead in the water’ and that Fury had been left ‘fuming’ by the constant delays.

‘It will take months for the Saudis to do their due diligence on such a huge deal,’ he told the Telegraph.

‘It is not just a site fee, there are ancillary demands from the Saudis stretching into the broadcast deals and other things, it could take months for it all to play out. It could even take until 2022 the way it looks right now.

‘The fight in July or August is dead in the water as far as we are concerned. The two fighters need to go and have other fights this summer while the negotiations for that fight in the Middle East conclude.

Arum added that he and Fury’s UK promoter Frank Warren were ‘on the same page’ with where they stand on the fight.

‘It is absurd what Hearn is saying that it is a done deal. If we had just done a site deal without all the other complications that have arisen, we would have a fight by now. Tyson Fury is fuming about it and is refusing to keep waiting.’

According to The Athletic, however, the formalities of the site deal are set to be ironed out over the course of the next 24 hours ahead of official confirmation and the biggest fight in nearly a decade will go ahead in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in early August.

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