Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh took a bizarre swipe at pop star Dua Lipa during the launch press conference for Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua.
Joshua and Fury faced off for the first time at Olympia London on Wednesday, six days after finally announcing their bout for 11 December at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff.
Alalshikh is financing the fight and received a lot of the plaudits during what was a mostly tepid affair, though he raised eyebrows when explaining what it took to get the ‘Battle of Britain’ booked for the United Kingdom rather than New York, with Madison Square Garden previously expected to host the bout.
The start time for the fight, while not confirmed, looks set to be in the early hours of the morning to cater to an American audiece, something that both ruled out the fight happening in London, as well as seemingly an appearance from Lipa in the musical entertainment slot.
He said. "I will be honest today, I know that London wouldn't give me the stadium until 2am, and I know that Dua Lipa, will not perform in the stadium, because she doesn't like boxing, and maybe she doesn't like me..."
Alalshikh also revealed that he had to accept a loss of $70m in revenue to stage the bout on British soil, something that proved a key sticking point in getting to fight booked.
“Nobody questioned me about UK. I love the British people, I try to deliver everything for them,” he added.”
“Put yourself in my shoes, there’s a situation to lose $70m, the best is to have it in a good time zone.
“I have two reasons, and I know London won’t deliver it, they won’t give me the stadium until 2am... Wales delivered it, it’s still UK, the town of Ryan Giggs, let’s do it.”
Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, meanwhile followed up on his claim that ‘AJ’ had to sacrifice “significant millions” in pushing for the fight to be in the UK by revealing that Joshua gave up a sum of at least $10m.
Hearn said: “All of a sudden, people are saying, ‘Please bring the fight to the UK’. He started feeling it, and I had to phone him up.
“AJ's one one of those guys, he goes to me, ‘Well, what, whatever you think,’ and I'm like, ‘No, no, no. It's your, it's your money.’ He’s got to turn down eight figures plus to keep it in the UK.
“I said, ‘I can't make that decision for you.’ He says, ‘What do you think I should do?’ I said, ‘I think in the UK is where the fight should be. I think there's an element and an edge for you to have this fight in the UK. But it's a lot of money.’
“And he went, ‘F*** it. We'll, we'll do it in the UK.’ Eight-figure difference.”
