Boxing promoter Bob Arum
Fight promoter Bob Arum wants to bring the third part in the trilogy bout between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, initially scheduled to take place in July in Las Vegas, to Macau this November.
Macau has emerged as the best option for hosting the boxing event, Arum told the Times in a phone interview yesterday, after Vegas went into shutdown in March on account of Covid-19.
Boxing events made a brief appearance in Macau in 2013 and 2014, with major fights involving boxers Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Ríos. Now, Arum sees Macau’s rapid recovery from the coronavirus as a chance to bring boxing back while few other places are capable of hosting large sports events.
“This fight says something to the world that Macau is back and it’s functioning,” Arum told the Times. “That message will go around the world. Whether it leads to more boxing events [in Macau in the future], I don’t know, but it’s the right message to send.”
The founder and CEO of Las Vegas-based Top Rank also elaborated on some details regarding the fight rumored to be taking place at the Cotai Arena, clarifying that, in fact, organizers are in talks with all six gaming operators in Macau to support the event. Arum said the idea was to host it on neutral soil, at the East Asian Games Dome.
“We’re talking with everybody. We want to make this a big, big community event and I think it would attract a lot of international attention,” Arum remarked.
So far, he said that none of the casino operators had confirmed their involvement, but “all six have been contacted, [and] all have indicated interest.”
The rumors about the boxing match started about one month ago when Arum, who co-promotes Fury along with Frank Warren, told Sports Illustrated Now that the third fight between Fury and Wilder would have been postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak in the U.S. and its impact on the U.S. gaming capital, Las Vegas.
At that time, Arum noted that the bout would not take place before November or December.
Other than Macau, Australia was also considered as a potential host of the event over the last few weeks.
This will be the third time that Fury and Wilder meet at the ring in less than two years.
After the first event in December 2018 in Los Angeles, which ended in a controversial 113-113 draw – with scorecards showing 115-111 for Wilder and 114-112 for Fury (which was incorrectly announced as 114–110) – the heavyweight duo squared off again in a battle in Las Vegas in February this year.
At this second event, Fury won the seventh round, putting an end to Wilder’s five-year reign as World Boxing Council (WBC) champion.
The second bout was said to have generated a total of $17 million (MOP135.8 million).
The East Asian Games Dome was inaugurated in 2005, being one of the major venues of the 2005 East Asian Games. The indoor sports facility also hosted several events for the 2007 Asian Indoor Games.
The last time the Dome was used for a major sports event was back in 2011 when Macau hosted the FIVB World Grand Prix Finals for Women’s Volleyball. Renato Marques & Daniel Beitler
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