![]() ![]() Khan and Fury have done it before, of course, but, for Joshua, set to fight Jarrell Miller in New York on June 1, this is all new and arrives somewhat earlier than expected. In the next four months, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Amir Khan will all box stateside. The market in America has gone berserk but it definitely won’t last.” “If you’re a world-class fighter and you see people on the same level in America earning twice what you’re earning in the UK, what are you going to want to do? It’s not rocket science. “When there’s a bit of a market change it’s really dictated by the fighters and managers rather than the promoters, in terms of where they want to fight,” promoter Eddie Hearn told Boxing News. However, one possible downside to it all is this: Britain’s two biggest names, and perhaps others, will now up sticks to collect the cheques. Moves such as these are a testament to British boxing’s resurgence and bring money to boxers’ pockets, which can only be a positive. ![]() Matchroom Boxing USA became a thing and partnered with DAZN, while Tyson Fury went on to sign a US television deal with ESPN. Foreign champions surrendered home comforts to get paid and US television networks and streaming services started showing an interest in British boxing and its protagonists. Go to Blighty, boxers were informed, and you’ll return wealthy. Thanks to the fighters and promoters, the perception of boxing in the UK had changed and the nation was now synonymous with big venues, big numbers and big money. Beneath heavyweight, meanwhile, Gennady Golovkin and Oleksandr Usyk fancied a taste of the UK honeypot and so did Terence Crawford, Errol Spence and Gervonta Davis, future US stars who risked early career losses to venture across the Atlantic. Charles Martin played hard to get but finally opened his legs and even Wladimir Klitschko, the king of Germany, ended up retiring on British soil. People were going to come.Īnthony Joshua, the jewel in the UK crown, was the light towards which heavyweight moths gravitated. We were told Britain was now the epicentre and envy of the boxing world. We were told events in swimming pools and ice rinks and shopping malls were ghastly things of the past and that arena and stadium fights and pay-per-view paydays were accessible for all. ![]() We were told the sport was getting sexy again. Soundtracked by Neil Diamond singing ‘Sweet Caroline’, there were world champions in multiple weight divisions, there were sold-out arenas and stadiums, and there were promoters with fresh ideas and television networks eager to monetise the sport’s popularity in the form of pay-per-view blockbusters. It was there, also, on this cornfield-turned-baseball field, intrigued tourists would later gather to share the experience, happy to pay for the privilege.įor a while, it seemed British boxing was adopting this Field of Dreams approach. It was there he would eventually meet ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson, a deceased baseball legend, who turned up and asked to play catch, as well as his own father, who asked to do the same and whose pain Costner had to ease. What needed to be built, Costner discovered, was a baseball field. “If you build it, he will come,” a confused Kevin Costner was once told by a mysterious voice in an Iowa cornfield. ![]()
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