TYSON FURY and Anthony Joshua having British boxing’s biggest fight in Las Vegas would be a cardinal sin we might have to deal with.
The 37-year-old Gypsy King upped sticks and swapped Morecambe for the Isle of Man tax haven in April.
But that means any work he does back in the UK will come at a crippling cost to the pound-loving prize fighter.
And his shock trip to the White House last weekend, where he wore a ‘Donald Trump for Prime Minister’ hat to watch the UFC show, has boosted fears among British fight fans that the 15-year-old all-English rivalry will be settled in the desert.
AJ promoter Eddie Hearn insists that part of the 36-year-old Watford hero’s contract stipulates the bout MUST take place in the UK.
But the fact that Saudi boxing kingmaker and rule breaker Turki Al Sheikh is the brains and budget behind the deal means signatures and sentiment can go out the window.
If Al Sheikh decides he wants to let MMA kingpin Dana White ride roughshod on the show, in the Nevada desert, then everyone will have to fall in line.
Because unlike traditional boxing business – where every bum-on-seat and pay-per-view sale is a deal breaker – the Saudis aren’t concerned with commercial success.
Boxing’s newest and biggest bankrollers want glitz and glamour and eyeballs.
The 2025 Times Square show – where one of the most iconic landmarks in the world was shut down for a fan-free boxing show – would have been a commercial disaster.
And the four decision bouts weren’t much better either.
But The Ring magazine organisers were able to ram their flag into the hallowed concrete and break new ground for the world to see.
That’s what they could attempt by taking the London 2012 legend and the Traveller showman Stateside.
Unlike anywhere in the UK, Vegas venues will offer up handsome site fees and casinos will want to recapture the incredible Ricky Hatton days when the blue half of Manchester drank the whole town dry.
But it remains to be seen how many Brit fans would really travel over to watch these two fading icons finally clash.
This is not a prime Hitman – working-class, Guinness-loving lad in his prime – taking an army of Maine Road and Etihad regulars over on a Jolly Boys’ Outing.
It’s a pair of multi-multi-millionaires in the twilight of their careers, rightly and fairly cashing in on all their hard work and dedication while a Saudi fight fan waves his chequebook in the air.
And as much as Matchroom matchmaker Hearn might push back at the suggestion that Al Sheikh and White might take the circus across The Pond, it wasn’t long ago that the Essex mogul was promising to clean Al Sheikh’s shoes, if he was ordered to.
British boxing has sold its soul to Saudi Arabia, The Ring Magazine and Al Sheikh, and been very well rewarded for it.
But this isn’t a gravy train you can just hop off once you’ve had your fill of the Bisto.
Fury hasn’t been allowed in the US since around 2021 – following the US sanctions against his friend Daniel Kinahan, who was arrested in April – a point White raised in his most recent press conference and hinted at wanting credit for sorting out.
Now he is back in America he can try to revisit the Fury-Mania that gripped the States following his three iconic fights with Deontay Wilder.
But he’s been floored by boxing debutant Francis Ngannou and twice dominated by ‘little’ Oleksandr Usyk since those halcyon days.
So those fickle few remaining US fight fans – with most of the nation much preferring NBA, NFL, WWE and UFC – might not care so much for his post-fight singing anymore.
In Fury’s defence, he makes no secret of money being his sole motivation in making the Joshua fight wherever has the deepest pockets.
He told IFL: “I just want to turn up and get my money and I’ll put on a show
“Whoever wants to put the biggest cheque up, come and see me.
“I don’t care where it happens, I am not bothered.”
If the bout was in Saudi Arabia then at the least the two-hour time difference would be kind to UK fans watching at home.
At times, this bout was tipped to break all UK PPV records and rack up 2m buys on Sky Sports.
But a US show – depending on whether it was on the East or West coast – would be a miserable start time for the fans who have followed both great big men throughout their careers.
Both men deserve every shilling they can squeeze out of their overdue swansong.
They have lost enough fights and braincells to warrant gold-plated super-yachts into the Red Sea sunset.
We can sulk and moan that it’s not happening on our doorstep or in our time zone.
But we are not the ones taking the blows in the ring or stumping up the cash for the cause.
British boxing has been holding hands with Saudi for so long and so tightly that we can’t complain when we are dragged anywhere we don’t want to go.
