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By: Hans Themistode
Tyson Fury successfully made his WWE debut this past Thursday night in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. Fury took on wrestling star Braun Strowman at the Crown Jewel on Halloween.
The Lineal Heavyweight champion looked better than expected, but don’t expect him to quit his day job as a world champion boxer.
Fury was last seen in a boxing ring earlier this year on September 14th, against Otto Wallin. He is expected to take on WBC belt holder Deontay Wilder in a rematch in February set for 2020. There first contest ended in a highly disputed draw. With so much anticipation to see them do it again, it has quickly turned into the most talked about fight of the upcoming year.
With most big fights, the destination for their aforementioned rematch is set to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the T-Mobile Arena. However, it seems as though there could be a change to that venue.
“We’ve had a massive offer, the same date Feb 22, massive offer from Saudi,” said Fury to reporters. “They are ‘powerhousing’ in the sports at the minute. It’s a really big offer, but we’ve got to sit down as a team, speak to MTK, ESPN, Frank Warren and thrash it out. But at the minute as we speak, the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas is set and delivered providing everything goes well.”
The recent news of Saudi Arabia as a destination for Wilder vs Fury 2 should come as no surprise. Fury managed to bring in roughly 15 million for one nights work at the Crown Jewel. Saudi Arabia is also the current destination for the biggest fight remaining on this years boxing calendar in Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz 2. Many reports have surfaced that Joshua, who lost his WBA, IBF and WBO titles to Ruiz via stoppage, is set to make about 75 million.
Before Fury completed his successful WWE debut, he went on to praise just how big Saudi Arabia has become in the world of sports.
“It’s going to be a great night of WWE and wrestling entertainment and hopefully this is the first time of many times the Gypsy King comes to Saudi Arabia because who knows, next year I may even fight Deontay Wilder back here in Saudi Arabia. It’s becoming the sporting capital of the world.”
There are so many angles to this story that it is hard to digest all at once. Las Vegas, has always been the home of the biggest fights in the sport of boxing. However, with Saudi Arabia dishing huge sums of money to shift the focus to their country instead, this could in effect launch a ripple effect.
Could Fury and Wilder actually take their feud across seas and compete in Saudi Arabia in the first quarter of 2020? At this point it is difficult to say for certainty, but it does seem that it is a strong possibility.
