Frank Warren has been so encouraged by pre-sale ticket interest in the Tyson Fury-Dillian Whyte fight that he expects to pack Wembley Stadium to capacity April 23.
Tickets go on sale Wednesday for the card headlined by their WBC heavyweight title fight in London. BoxingScene.com has been informed that the iconic English venue is configured to accommodate over 90,000 fans, but that capacity could be increased to bring it closer to 100,000.
“I’m delighted,” Warren said Tuesday during a press conference at Wembley Stadium, which Whyte did not attend. “I mean, it’s great. We’re in Wembley. It don’t get no better than this. It’s gonna be a fantastic night. I think we’re gonna sell out. It’s just under a hundred thousand capacity.
“And it’s gonna be a special night because you got the lineal champion, the WBC champion, who, not being here for four years, not fought in the country for four years. And we’ve had, you know, a lot of orders for tickets, and they go on sale tomorrow at noon. Start at 55 quid, onwards. But it’s gonna be phenomenal. And I’m telling you, the atmosphere is gonna be brilliant.”
Warren hopes attendance for Fury-Whyte exceeds crowds that assembled for each of Anthony Joshua’s two fights at Wembley Stadium – stoppages of Wladimir Klitschko in April 2017 (approximately 90,000) and Alexander Povetkin in September 2018 (roughly 80,000).
Tickets to this pay-per-view event went on sale Wednesday and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com. There is a limit of six tickets per customer.
Warren's Queensberry Promotions issued a press release Wednesday afternoon that indicated 85,000 tickets had been purchased within three hours of going on sale.
This will be by far the biggest event of Fury’s career in his home country. The last two times Fury fought in the United Kingdom, he appeared on undercards in Manchester, England, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, while attempting to rebuild his career following a 2½-year hiatus caused by alcoholism, depression and drug addiction.
Each of Fury’s past five fights have been held in the United States – including back-to-back knockouts of former WBC champ Deontay Wilder in February 2020 and last October 9.
The 6-foot-9, 276-pound Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) last competed in the UK in August 2018, when he out-pointed Italy’s Francesco Pianeta in a 10-rounder on the Carl Frampton-Luke Jackson undercard at Windsor Park in Belfast.
The 6-foot-4, 247-pound Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) has fought almost exclusively in England since he made his pro debut in May 2011.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
