Sheikh offers $120m for Fury Kiltschko superyacht rematch

World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has claimed that an unnamed Sheikh offered him a share of $120m to fight on his superyacht

Could the biggest boxing match of this year take place on a superyacht? The notion has been raised by world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (above right) in a recent interview.

The 27-year-old claims that he was offered a share of $120m (£82m) to stage his rematch against former champ Vladimir Klitschko (above left) on a sheikh’s superyacht.

“There was a sheikh in Dubai who owned a yacht, which would only fit 120 people on,” Fury explained. “He didn’t want to broadcast it and he said he could sell 120 tickets at $1m each, so that would have been $120m.”

The self-styled Gypsy King then goes on to claim that his cut would have been more than half of the total, or ten times his average net purse for a fight.

The veracity of his claim is up for debate, after all the champ has previous for outlandish statements.

However, there is one detail that makes us think this might have been a legitimate offer. Azzam, the largest superyacht in the world, features a huge open-plan saloon that measures 29m x 18m (95ft x 59ft) and has no obstructing pillars.

It’s owner UAE president Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan is not known for his love of boxing, but there is a small chance that this is what he had in mind when he specified the layout of Azzam.

At 180m in length, Azzam is certainly large enough to host 122 people, but whether you could fit all of them and a boxing ring in the 522m² saloon is another matter.

Either way, Fury ends his interview by pouring cold water on the idea of a superyacht prize fight, saying: “I don’t think it’s possible now, but it would have been an epic story. I was up for it, nobody would have known who won!”