Tyson Fury (left) and Anthony Joshua. Photo: GETTY IMAGES
Tickets for the highly anticipated heavyweight clash between British boxing rivals Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have sold out within an hour of going on sale, with more than 500,000 fans reportedly waiting in the online queue.
As reported by BBC Sport on Friday, about 80,000 tickets were released for the fight, which is scheduled to take place at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium in Wales on December 11, with the main event expected to begin in the early hours of December 12.
The tickets went on sale at 12:00 BST on Friday, with prices ranging from £88.50 to £13,128, including booking fees.
The bout, which will be broadcast globally on Netflix, was announced in September and is being promoted through a collaboration between Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh’s The Ring and Ultimate Fighting Championship chief Dana White.
However, tickets quickly appeared on resale websites following the sell-out, with ringside VIP seats advertised for as much as £73,645, while upper-tier seats were listed for £425.
The main event’s ringwalks are expected to begin at around 01:00 GMT on Saturday, December 12, following a live music performance. The stadium is scheduled to remain open until 03:30 GMT.
Fury, 38, and Joshua, 36, are both former two-time world champions who signed contracts for the bout earlier this year, although the date and venue had yet to be confirmed at the time.
Wembley Stadium in London and Madison Square Garden in New York were initially considered potential venues, but Cardiff eventually emerged as the preferred location.
The Principality Stadium has previously hosted major late-night boxing events, including Joe Calzaghe’s fight against Mikkel Kessler in November 2007, which began at 01:00 GMT.
Similarly, Ricky Hatton’s victory over Kostya Tszyu at Manchester’s MEN Arena in 2005 started at approximately 02:00 local time to accommodate US broadcaster Showtime’s Saturday evening schedule.
The announcement of the Fury-Joshua contest followed uncertainty over the fight’s promotion, with a dispute emerging over White’s role in organising the event.
Netflix had announced that Alalshikh’s The Ring and White would work together to promote the bout. However, Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, argued that his fighter’s contract prevented White from taking on a promotional role.
The British rivals eventually met at a news conference on September 30 to begin the build-up to what is expected to be one of the biggest fights in British boxing history.
Fury and Joshua are reportedly set to share a purse worth close to $200m (£151m).
Organisers are yet to announce the undercard fights.
