By Norm Frauenheim–
History is easy to advertise. It’s harder to make. But some history is part of the promise attached to what otherwise would be just another title bout for another acronym-sponsored belt if not for location, location, location.
Jamel Herring and Carl Frampton are fighting in Dubai Saturday.
If it were Las Vegas or any other of boxing’s familiar stops, the fight for Herring’s junior-lightweight belt (ESPN+, 4 pm ET, 1 pm PT) would be interesting in terms of what’s next for a 130-pound division re-energized by Oscar Valdez’ stirring upset of Miguel Berchelt.
But interesting doesn’t qualify as history, or even noteworthy. Let’s just say that Herring-Frampton is a potential ground breaker for what it could do to boxing’s traditional real estate. It’s the first title fight ever in Dubai.
“I don’t have any doubts with the fight happening in Dubai because I’m a U.S. Marine.,’’ said Herring, a veteran of two combat tours in Iraq, including the battle of Fallujah in 2005. ”I’ve fought everywhere, in terms of the battlefield or in the ring.’’
The difference rests in rules and regs, presumably there to govern what happens in the ring. The violence is supposed to be controlled, unlike the killing fields Herring saw and survived 16 years ago. In part, those rules and regs will be subjected to something of a test run Saturday in Herring’s title defense against Frampton, an oft-injured ex-champ from Belfast.
If all goes well Saturday, the first of a reported two fights between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua for the undisputed heavyweight title might be headed to Dubai later this summer. Dubai has been mentioned repeatedly as a possibility for Fury-Joshua, both UK fighters. It’s fair to ask why, in the name of the Queen, would two British heavyweights fight anywhere other than the UK? There’s only one answer. It the same one you’ll get to the question about why the London Bridge is in the Arizona desert (Lake Havasu City).
Money.
Promoters are looking for site fees, which these days have been eroded by restrictions brought on by a Pandemic that is in Year Two and counting. There’s hope that it’ll end soon because of effective vaccines. By fall, there’s optimism that socially-distancing vanishes and seats are filled by paying customers instead of cardboard cutouts.
That’s already the plan in Texas. The state is open for business. The Texas Rangers are hoping for a capacity crowd (40,300) next Monday for their home opener against Toronto Monday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Tex., Next door at AT&T Stadium, Canelo Alvarez hopes to fight Billy Joe Saunders in front of 70,000 fans on the Dallas Cowboys homefield on May 8. But medical experts worry whether so-called COVID variants will turn the baseball-opener into a super-spreader. It’s anybody’s guess what that might do to crowd expectations for Canelo-Saunders. But the risk is there.
Nevertheless, shopping for the best site-fee continues for what might be the biggest heavyweight fight in years. At Dillian Whyte’s stoppage of Alexander Povetkin last Saturday in Gibraltar, Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn told Boxing Social that he’s hitting the road for the next three weeks, all in search of a country willing to pay a king’s ransom for Fury-Joshua.
Hearn acknowledged there’s talk that the first fight should happen late in the fall. But Hearn insists June or July. Neither Joshua nor Fury can wait much longer, he says. Fury has been idle for more than year. He hasn’t fought since a Feb. 22, 2020 stoppage of Deontay Wilder. Joshua hasn’t fought since a stoppage of Kubrat Pulev last Dec. 12.
Fury, at least, has been idle long enough to reconsider and ask for a tune-up. He has mentioned that possibility. But the push is on, and it’s motivated by the pursuit of a site fee in the Middle East, where there’s money and oil to burn.
The heavyweights have already been there with Joshua avenging a loss to Andy Ruiz with a decision over the Mexican-American on Dec 7, 2019 in Saudi Arabia. It was called Clash On The Dunes, but it was more cash than clash.
Look for the bidding to begin Saturday, with the cash perhaps big enough to buy a piece of history.
