Tyson Fury v Deontay Wilder Sydney trilogy fight: Bob Arum backtracks on Aussie hosting plan
Australia’s success in managing the Coronavirus has actually come back to haunt them - with Top Rank boss Bob Arum ruling them out as potential hosts for the mega rematch.
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The prospect of Australia hosting the mega trilogy fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder has nosedived after Top Rank boss Bob Arum declared he would not ask either fighter to undergo COVID-19 quarantine protocols.
As it stands, any foreign traveller who arrives in Australia must self-isolate in a hotel for 14 days before they can go out in public.
Having touted Australia as a possible venue for Fury-Wilder 3 on Monday, Arum had changed his mind during a phone interview with The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.
“Unless things change, New Zealand and Australia are non-starters,” Arum said.
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“They have a 14-day quarantine for visitors, and once I tell the fighters, both of whom come from out of the country, plus the hundred other people who will fly over, plus the five or six thousand Brits that follow Fury and go to all of his fights, that they come over and watch the fight in their hotel room while they’re in quarantine, they’d think I was out of my mind.
“So I can’t see it how it can happen.
“If there’s a 14-day quarantine you can’t do an international event, it’s as simple as that.
“I think it’s good that if you’re coming into the country you’re getting tested, OK, but if they’re going to put everybody into a 14-day quarantine, how can you do an event?”
Anticipation was high on both sides of the ditch after Sydney’s Bankwest Stadium, Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium and Auckland’s Eden Park were touted as potential venues for the multi-million showdown between undefeated heavyweight champion Fury and fierce American rival Wilder.
But Arum has now given his strongest indication that the third fight – the first was a draw, Fury stopped Wilder in the second – will take place in Las Vegas.
“I’d like it to be in Las Vegas so I can sleep in my own bed in the week before the fight,” Arum said.
“We believe that the new football stadium [Allegiant Stadium, opening August 22] that’s unbelievable, they want to do the fight, and we think we can get permission to put 20,000 people inside, in which case we’d have the benefit of the huge gates that we can do in Las Vegas, and also a contribution from the [Las Vegas] Convention Visitors Authority.
“So all of this is in play, but obviously if there are certain things that have to happen in countries – I am not going to dissuade them from doing it – we just can’t bring the event there.
“Fans won’t do two weeks of quarantine, people have to work.
“And also, what do I do with the fighters?
“You couldn’t do it, how can you spend millions of dollars promoting the event, and then someone in Fury’s camp or Wilder’s camp comes down with coronavirus, and they track everything, and they don’t let the guy fight?
“The restrictions don’t have to be completely lifted, but when the restrictions are capable of doing the event without making it impossible for the people attending the event, the fight camps, the promoters, you could think about it.”
While state governments have been gradually easing restriction policies designed to stop the outbreak of the coronavirus, it is highly unlikely the Federal Government will lift the 14-day quarantine policy for foreign visitors in time to plan the event in Australia later this year.
“Both fighters want this fight to happen this year,” Arum said.
It’s likely to be held in November or December.
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Arum said if it’s not in Las Vegas, Macau looms as the next likely destination.
“They have a different kind of set-up where they’ll do the testing at the borders, and allow people in being tested without quarantine,” Arum said.
“Then of course if something turns up you can’t come in, that makes sense.”
But local boxing promoter Dean Lonergan, who had originally suggested to Arum to stage the bout in Australia, said he is still hopeful the event can be held here.
“This is just an obstacle to overcome,” Lonergan said.
“Peter V’landys has shown with the NRL, by working closely with the government, that all things with lateral thinking have solutions.
“I’d see this as a small problem, one that can be overcome when Australia lifts restrictions and allows full capacity at sporting events. Just read the playbook of Peter V’landys.”
AUSSIE CHAMP WON’T BE LEAVING LAS VEGAS - Nick Walshaw
Australian boxing champ Andrew Moloney has been offered a shock Las Vegas “residency” by famed US promoter Bob Arum, who is keen to have the rising super flyweight headline consecutive title fights Stateside.
Speaking from his Las Vegas training base, Moloney revealed Arum’s plan to keep him living and training in the world’s fight capital if he wins his hyped US debut — a WBA Super Flyweight title defence against American Joshua Franco on June 23.
The event, which headlines the MGM Grand Garden Arena, will not only expose Moloney to a huge global TV audience but give the undefeated boxer a chance to grow his profile back home.
Given the restrictions around international travel, Arum wants his Australian champ, should he win, to stay living and training out of Las Vegas so he can be readily available for a second title defence.
The same plan also extends to Moloney’s twin brother Jason, a No.2-ranked bantamweight who headlines his own MGM Grand card two nights later against American Oscar Negrete.
Wonderfully, Arum has dubbed the back-to-back events “Moloney Week”.
While Australia’s sole boxing champ stressed he was looking no further ahead than his US debut against Franco — a tough Texan who has lost only once in 17 fights — he confirmed a win could extend his stay in the world’s fight capital.
“Right now, all my focus is on winning this world title fight,” Moloney said. “However, Bob has already spoken about keeping me around if this one goes well.
“It’s all based on winning — and winning impressively.
“But if I can do that, then we’ll sit down to discuss what’s next and the possibility of remaining in Las Vegas. Getting over here in the first place, it was such a huge thing to pull off.
“So there’s a chance that if we were to go back home to Australia, apart from quarantining in Sydney, we may not be able to get back into America that quickly.
“But who knows? For now I just have to stay focused on winning this fight.”
Arum met with the twins at his Top Rank offices just before the weekend. They talked about the huge opportunity that is “Moloney Week”.
“Bob still can’t really believe we got here,” Andrew said. “With me being a world champion and Jason being so close too, the guys from Top Rank just said how pumped they are to watch us fight and begin our journeys together.”
Jason will also continue his push towards a world title fight with his own headliner.
“So the way things have worked out, it couldn’t be better,” he said. “For us both to be making our US debuts by headlining cards at the MGM Grand — the most iconic venue in world boxing — it really is unbelievable.”
Originally published as Tyson Fury v Deontay Wilder Sydney trilogy fight: Bob Arum backtracks on Aussie hosting plan