LAS VEGAS – The British aren’t coming.
That unfortunate fact, according to promoter Bob Arum, is why ticket sales for the third heavyweight title bout between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder aren’t quite as robust as for their rematch in February 2020. The United States government’s COVID-related travel ban on airline passengers from England and various other countries has prohibited thousands of English boxing fans from flying to the self-proclaimed “Fight Capital of the World” to support Fury for his first defense of the WBC belt he won from Wilder in February 2020.
BoxingScene.com confirmed Friday that organizers of their ESPN/FOX Sports Pay-Per-View main event don’t anticipate a sellout Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
The home arena of the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights can accommodate more than 20,000 for boxing. T-Mobile Arena is scaled for slightly more than 18,000 for the Fury-Wilder card.
Paid attendance should exceed 15,000, which will generate gate receipts of more than $10 million, perhaps appreciably more.
Their rematch, which Fury won by seventh-round technical knockout, drew a capacity crowd of approximately 16,000 to the slightly smaller MGM Grand Garden Arena, a short walk across Las Vegas Boulevard from T-Mobile Arena. That paid crowd of 15,210 helped produce nearly $17 million in ticket revenue, which established a Nevada record for a boxing show headlined by a heavyweight fight.
Though Fury-Wilder III won’t result in a sellout, Arum is pleased with how tickets have moved considering fans from Fury’s home country cannot travel to Las Vegas for this fight. Frank Warren, Fury’s co-promoter, estimated that approximately 8,000 Brits would’ve flown here to attend this event if they were allowed.
“Ticket sales have been very, very good,” Arum told a small group of reporters after a press conference Wednesday at MGM Grand Garden Arena. “But look [outside], walk around town. Where are the Brits? Biden has kept ‘em out. They pulled the travel ban starting November 1st. That don’t help the fight, right? That’s why you don’t have the same type of buzz. But I think the pay-per-view is doing better than it did before.”
The Fury-Wilder rematch produced nearly 850,000 pay-per-view buys in the United States. The suggested retail price for their third fight is $79.99 in the U.S., the same as their rematch.
BT Sport Box Office is offering Fury-Wilder III at a marginally higher pay-per-view cost than usual in the United Kingdom (£24.95), but still significantly cheaper than in the U.S. Their 12-round fight for Fury’s WBC championship will start in the wee hours of Sunday morning in the UK, but Warren believes it’ll sell well there.
“I believe it’ll do well,” Warren said. “It should do good numbers there. They’re really well-publicized. And there’s a lot of uncertainty about this fight because Tyson has everything to lose and nothing to gain. For me, he’s already beaten him twice. Got robbed the first time [officially a split draw] and obviously took him to school the second time. Look, everything’s on the line for Tyson. He can’t afford to be complacent. I expect him to win. I expect him to stop him. But he cannot afford to be complacent.
“And this could be interesting, to see what this guy does. Because for me, he can do one thing to win this fight and that’s to come out, stand his ground and throw bombs. He ain’t gonna out-box him. That’s the only chance. And if he does that, you’re gonna get an unbelievable shootout between the two of them.”
Caesars Sportsbook lists Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) as a 3-1 favorite over Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.