By James Slater -The bad news, for fans of British heavyweight prospect Tyson fury especially, is the talked-of fight between the unbeaten 22-year-old and former heavyweight king Hasim Rahman now looks extremely unlikely to happen on the proposed April 16th date. The good news is that as the April 16th main event of Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey is now without a notable supporting fight, Sky Sports bosses will not allow the card to be put on Box Office Pay-Per-View.
According to boxrec.com, as the original support bout of Matthew Macklin vs. Khoren Gevor fell through, and now that Fury-Rahman is extremely doubtful (boxrec reports how “Rock’s” trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad has ruled the fight out for his man, seeing as how the notice given was so short. As of now, team-Fury is still trying to secure this match-up or, failing that, another biggish name. However, given the timeframe, it does seem unlikely any credible name will agree to the fight, seeing as it is just over a week away), Sky bosses cannot justify the fans paying for Khan-McCloskey.
So, as of today, it looks like those fans who either have Sky or have access to Sky, will be able to enjoy the latest WBA title defence by 140-pound “King Khan” for no extra charge. And, as the writer for Boxrec points out, this will ensure that thousands more fans will be tuning in to see Khan fight. Maybe the 24-year-old who is already a household name in the U.K will enjoy his largest U.K TV audience in quite a while – or since he was fighting on terrestrial channels.
As for Fury, it is to be hoped he can find a suitable foe for the 16th, but reports suggest his teams’ attempts have thus far proven unsuccessful. According to rumours, veteran Kali Meehan was offered the fight with Fury and accepted the fight, only for the head honchos at Sky to turn him down. Fury, who was looking forward to upping the level of his competition, will be hugely frustrated if he is unable to box a week on Saturday.
The big winners, however, will be the fans – who will get to save their £15.00 as they enjoy a decent night of boxing! Stay tuned to see if things change.