Promoter Bob Arum is predicting a massive crowd of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium for the April 23rd fight between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte in London, England.
Arum also believes the Fury-Whyte fight will do one million PPV buys in the UK and at least three hundred thousand in the U.S.
It won’t do as well in the States as in the UK, as both fighters are from England, and the time of the fight isn’t conducive to bringing in a lot of buys from the U.S fans.
As far as Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) potentially not helping out with the promotion of the fight by speaking during press conferences and giving interviews, Arum says it’s not a problem.
He believes that all the media talk that will occur about Whyte’s silent treatment will work in favor of the promotion to create interest.
Moreover, Fury’s over-the-top personality will generate a lot of discussion from fans, and he’ll have a field day taunting a silent Whyte at the press conferences without him defending himself.
Whyte’s participation in promotion not essential
“He’ll either participate on the promoter or he won’t,” said Bob Arum to 3 Knockdown Rule about whether Dillian Whyte will help promote his April 23rd fight against Tyson Fury. “If he participates in the promotion, we’ll do the promotion the normal way.
“If he doesn’t participate, we’ll make hay out of that and that’ll be a promotion in itself,” Arum said about all the talk that will arise in the media about Whyte sulking and not speaking during the promotion of the event.
“It’s his choice. I don’t care. Do you care if Dillian Whyte shows up or doesn’t show up for a particular press conference? It doesn’t mean anything. I’ve got in Tyson fury not only one of the world’s best boxers and fighters, and one of the greatest entertainers.
“You saw how he performed at my 90th birthday party at Madison Square Garden. The guy is amazing,” Arum said.
Arum predicts 90,000 fans for Fury vs. Whyte at Wembley
“Of course, not and difference in time,” said Arum when asked if a PPV fight in the UK can be as successful in the U.S. “But the U.S pay-per-view will be the tail of the promotion [for Fury vs. Whyte].
“We need it and we’re going to do some revenue. Closed-circuit here, we’ll do revenue here, but the big money will come from the UK. The UK, for example, are predicting that we’ll fill up Wembley [Stadium], which is 90,000 people, and we’ll do over one million homes on pay-per-view in the UK.
“So, what we do in the U.S is important but it’s gravy. Do you understand?” said Arum. “Will it do 500,000, 600,000 homes in the U.S? not likely. But if it does 300,000 homes, that’s pretty good added income.
Joshua vs. Usyk II rematch “time-sensitive”
“If that fight happens because I have no control over that fight,” said Arum when asked if Fury will fight the winner of the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk II fight.
“Joshua has the right for a rematch, but it’s time-sensitive. So unless he exercises it soon, Usyk is going to go on and fight somebody else, which could be Tyson Fury. Then Joshua can hope that Fury wins and then opt to fight Fury in a massive fight in the UK.
“I think Joshua is in a hard place here. The style of Usyk and the way he can box is very, very difficult for Joshua to counter.
“So the idea that Joshua is going to come in and beat Usyk is very doubtful, and I think Joshua knows that it’s doubtful,” said Arum.
Well, if Joshua has any common sense, he’ll back out of the Usyk fight and save himself from losing out on millions.
The money that Joshua will lose out by taking a second loss to Usyk will be enormous, as it would mean that he wouldn’t be facing Fury later this year for all the marbles.
Joshua refers to himself as a smart businessman, but clearly, he’s not because it’s foolish for him to be taking the rematch against a fighter that totally schooled him last time.
