Skills Challenge Promotions’ Head of Boxing Amer Abdallah is optimistic that Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder will take place in the Middle East this year but insists that no offers have been made just yet. Social media has been rife with rumours about bids being submitted for both fights and there have been some pretty outlandish numbers thrown around.
It had even been reported that the Saudis had offered £120m to Usyk and Fury to stage their long-awaited undisputed fight in the Kingdom. But Abdallah affirms that these figures are ‘baseless’.
In an exclusive interview with Express Sport, he said: “Sometimes I sit back when I have a little bit of time and I’ll go on Twitter and I’ll read some of this stuff, and I just nod my head and I’m like, ‘man, this is why I don’t check these kinds of things.
“The boxing rumour mill is just an unbelievable place. It really is… It is baseless. I don’t know where this stuff comes from, but nobody reports on an aeroplane landing safely. That’s not news. They want the disaster.
“It’s just there as clickbait. But does it have any substantial means? The answer is absolutely not. There has not been one offer, one number to any single person made.
“There have only been brief talks. And if anything more comes out it’ll come from Skill Challenge Promotions. We will make the announcement. We will have the press release. It’ll come from us first. Anything other than that? Baseless.”
Fights between the glamour divisions’ big four have been notoriously hard to get over the line in the past, however, Abdallah doesn’t expect to run into the same problems due to the resources Skills Challenge have at their disposal. The former kickboxing world champion states that all four parties want the fights to happen and assures those involved that they will receive a ‘premium price’ for their services.
“Tyson wants the fight, from what I understand. I know George [Warren] wants the fight and Frank [Warren] wants the fight at Queensberry,” he added.
“Usyk definitely wants the fight. AJ wants the fight. Eddie [Hearn] wants the fight. Shelly wants the fight. Deontay wants the fight. I mean, there’s nothing that should prevent this from happening. And, the offer that will be made from Skill Challenge will be a very good offer.
“It won’t be one that we’re going to go back and forth with. It’s going to be a premium price, and we’re going to offer it to these guys and pay them their market value, if not, maybe even a little bit more. We’re going to put on great fights and a great event. If anything prevents this fight from happening it’s because certain individuals don’t want the fight to happen, it won’t be because the money isn’t there.”