WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO is close to deciding whether he will rematch Anthony Joshua later this year. While he’s expected to take the fight, it’s more likely to come to Las Vegas rather than the 80,000 seat Millennium stadium in Cardiff.
“Next week we’ll present all the options to Klitschko and he’ll make his decision. If we get the venue right, I believe he’ll take the fight. I’m not sure whether he’ll take it in Cardiff,” Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, told Boxing News.
“I spoke to Bernd [Boente, Klitschko’s manager] this morning in terms of possible venues. Klitschko, I think he’ll take the fight. I think he wants to do something special with the event. He did Wembley, that was incredible. I don’t think he really wants to go to Cardiff. I think Nigeria, Dubai, Vegas, it’s a huge global event. That ticks his boxes. He’s made a lot of money. I know the payday’s nice [but] I think he wants to create a huge event. We’re in line with that as well.”
It would be a significant moment for Anthony Joshua to defend his world heavyweight titles in America. “16,000 at the T-Mobile will generate more than 90,000 at Wembley [with] ticket prices and the guarantees from the casino,” Hearn continued, but he added, “Although people won’t believe me, this fight’s not just about money for both guys. To headline AJ in Vegas is a major move, for him, for Klitschko, for us. Global stardom. They’re all boxes that have got to be ticked over time.”
It would take one of the biggest events in the sport away from British soil. Hearn noted, “We’ve got to understand a lot of focus is on Anthony Joshua at the moment. Other events will suffer outside of that. Although it helps British boxing, you will still get people going, ‘When’s the next AJ fight? I’ll go to that and I won’t worry about him and him and him.’ It’s a challenging time for British boxing, in my opinion because there’s massive saturation in the market right now.”
