Nigerian-born world heavyweight boxing champion, Anthony Joshua is in a frantic search for a new venue that will host his mandatory title defender against Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev, following the effects of coronavirus that ruled their initial date at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
Megasportsarena.com gathered that the race is on for Joshua’s camp, following reports that they have just about three weeks to get a location for the world title fight, but Pulev’s manager, Ivaylo Gotsev hinted that they already have sites in Britain and Croatia as likely venues on the current shortlist.
‘AJ’ had initially been set to face Pulev at Spurs’ home ground on June 20, but the fight has been postponed due to the ravaging effects of coronavirus across the world, and alternative options are now being discussed by Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn and the opposing camp.
Gotsev, who guided Pulev towards his second world title shot, disclosed that he held a recent conference call with his promotional team, Top Rank, and Hearn, who runs Matchroom Boxing Promotions, to discuss possible venues in a range of countries that would be suitable to stage the unified World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organisation (WBO) title fight after the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Initial talks have been held about staging the fight at The Pula Arena, a Roman amphitheatre in Croatia that holds around 5,000 people and has hosted music concerts for the like of Elton John and Foo Fighters, with Joshua and Pulev tipped to put up a gladiator performance at the historic location, but Gotsev admits nothing has been finalized just yet.
Gotsev told Sky Sports: “Croatia is one of the countries that was not hit very hard, as we know, and also with proper measurements, that could be the case where we’re not exposing everybody. An open-air stadium where you could spread out the crowd a little bit makes perfect sense.
“Why Croatia? Well, first of all, when you look at the map of Europe, it’s right there in the centre of the map, and it makes sense for our continent to host the event, and also the venue itself is very inviting, because it’s an open air venue.
“Eddie is well aware of it – our team is aware of it. We’re discussing it as a possibility. You could take the proper precautions and the proper measurements to look after people’s safety first. This is not, just go out there and have a fight. No, we’ve got to protect the people that are involved with the fight.
“Eddie has spoken to you about the Middle East, which is a great possibility. It makes sense, because those countries were not as hard affected and if you take the right precautions, we could really have a safe environment. That’s something I want to emphasise, and I can’t say it enough times – safety first.
“From participants to the timekeepers, to the judges. All the stuff that’s involved in production of such a big event, we’re looking after their health, so we could take proper precautions there and protect everyone. We’ve given ourselves four weeks to explore any and all opportunities that are there for the fight.
“We don’t want to take a risk against anyone’s health, no way no how. Whatever makes most sense, wherever we can have the best conditions under the current terms we’re living in, that’s where we’re going to go in. There you have it, we have about three more weeks left on the exploring and then we’ll see where the best options lie.”
