Nigerian-born former two-time world heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Olaseni Oluwafemi Joshua has found another hurdle coming up against his highly anticipated fight with Tyson Fury, Sports247 reports.
Although the highly acclaimed ‘Battle of Brits’ is still confirmed to take place on the 11th of next month in Cardiff, Wales, the latest hurdle facing the bout is rules governing late-night events in the city.
However, in a move to overcome the hurdle, officials of Cardiff Council are scheduled to meet on the 25th of this month to discuss possible changes to licensing at Principality Stadium, with hopes of a verdict that would allow the fight to go ahead.
The Cardiff Council will also meet to deliberate on an application by Principality Stadium officials to vary their premises licence for the bout on December 11th, after their original request revealed that the ring walk will start around 1 am.
The walk will come after a short live music performance, and the stadium will remain open until 3.30 am, all of which means the venue requires changes to its premises licence to allow crowded activities in the early hours to go ahead.
That approval is yet to be secured, as the application also seeks to extend permitted hours for boxing and wrestling bouts as well as general events for entertainment from an existing 1 am curfew to run until 3 am on December 12th.
Similarly, the sale of alcohol is set to end at 1am, while an approval could see it move up to 3am, but fresh concern emerged in steps towards D-Day, as heated objections came from certain community leaders regarding the requests sent to Cardiff Council.
Incidentally, when Wembley was initially touted to host the eagerly-anticipated clash, similar issues regarding an 11 pm curfew in London sparked a long tussle that almost saw the bout relocated to Madison Square Garden in New York, USA.
However, with a section in Joshua’s contract stipulating the fight must take place in the UK, he and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, stood firm, until Cardiff’s Principality Stadium emerged as a better option – but it must now overcome isuues of time deadlines in the community.
A report by BBC Sport revealed in part, “Fury and Joshua are set for a 1am ringwalk in their heavyweight boxing clash in Cardiff (where) Principality Stadium will host the biggest fight in British boxing history, with the bout being billed as taking place on Friday December 11.
“However, the expected schedule for the showdown has now been revealed, which will see the main event take place in the early hours of Saturday morning UK time.
“An application to Cardiff Council confirmed the ringwalk is planned to start at around 1am, after a short live music performance, and the stadium will remain open until 3.30am.”
Meanwhile, Fury continued his banter ahead of the big night, as ‘The Gypsy King’ jeered, “I don’t know him as a man. I only know him as the fake facade we see on TV or when he’s doing interviews.
“I don’t know anyone he could beat and he definitely ain’t beating me. I believe it will be one of the biggest fights the world’s ever seen.”
Sports247 gathered further that here is no rematch clause in the deal for the potentially decisive clash between Joshua and Tyson on December 11th.
Both have been fierce rivals for almost a decade but, rather than set up a second fight, their December 11th bout is programmed to be a one-off deal, with retirement beckoning for the loser.
