Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder are working to finalise deals that would see them fight in separate bouts in Saudi Arabia on 23 December.
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk were expected to meet on that date just before Christmas in their historic undisputed heavyweight title showdown.
However, after ‘The Gypsy King’ was left battered and bruised in his narrow win over former UFC champion Francis Ngannou, that fight has now been pushed back with February a likely date.
Saudi officials remain determined for the show to go on however with two other huge heavyweight names targeted for those plans on a spectacular night of boxing on 23 December.
Dan Rafael reports both Joshua and Wilder are ‘working to finish deals’ with Turki Alalshikh of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, the man most responsible for bringing Fury and Ngannou together last month.
Talks for Joshua and Wilder to finally meet in the ring reignited this year but talks once again fell by the wayside with Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn suggesting Saudi was not prepared to come with the necessary funds to stage that fight this year.
But latest reports suggest the region is now working to have both men fight on the same card before the end of the year with hope they will eventually return to fight each other in 2024.
Saudi Arabia still plans to host a major boxing event at the end of the year as part of their Riyadh Season.
In addition to Joshua and Wilder, WBA light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol is also being targeted for the card.
The Russian secured a huge victory over Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in May 2022, defending his title against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez later in the year but is still to fight in 2023.
Frank Warren, Fury’s promoter, discussed the plans for Saudi’s pre-Christmas show this week.
‘There’s gonna be a big night in December,’ he told talkSPORT. ‘We’ll be announcing it very soon, and it will be massive.
‘You’re gonna love it, I promise you you’re gonna love it. I can’t give you all the information at the moment, but everything’s going in the right direction for something to be a historical night of boxing.’
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