Soccer is one of the sports with the largest number of fans around the world, if not the largest. However, a new contender has come along to deliver a major setback, as a boxing match will reach an attendance record that none of the Champions League knockout stage matches of the current season will have.
Renowned teams such as Juventus, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Inter Milan, among others, have paraded in the ongoing knockout stage of the Champions League. All of them with great entries in each match they played in this tournament.
To get an idea of the success of an elite tournament like the Champions League in terms of attendance, it is enough to look at the stadium capacity of the 8 teams participating in the Quarter Finals: Benfica, 65,000, Liverpool, 54,000, Manchester City, 55,000, Atletico Madrid, 68,000, Chelsea, 41,000, Real Madrid, 81,000, Villarreal, 23,000, Bayern Munich, 75,000.
The boxing fight that will be more attended than any of the Champions League’s knock out stage matches
For context, the Champions League Final will be played on May 28 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France. The two survivors who reach it to fight for the glory of European and world soccer at the club level will play in front of 81,000 spectators. This figure will not match the attendance record of a mega-fight to be held in England.
Manchester City vs Atletico de Madrid, Champions League. (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
It is nothing more and nothing less than the battle between Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte, both British, in the Heavyweight category. In this war, Fury’s WBC World Heavyweight title will be at stake, with the mythical Wembley Stadium as the venue of the fight.
According to Michael Benson, Talk Sport journalist, the local authorities in London granted permission to expand the permitted capacity for Fury vs Whyte, on April 23, to 94,000, the maximum capacity allowed at Wembley Stadium.
Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte, a commercial success
Just last March 2, tickets for the battle between the Gypsy King and The Body Snatcher went on sale, but the tickets sold out one soccer match later, 90 minutes after the official sale began. Hence the request to increase the permitted capacity.
At 33 years old and with an undefeated record of 31-0-1, 220 KOs, Tyson Fury is not only the current WBC Heavyweight champion, but he is also one of the best Pound Pound Pound fighters in the world. He took his belt from Deontay Wilder, one of the most powerful knockout fighters in the history of the division, in 2020. In his most recent fight, he knocked out Wilder in the third fight between them.
Tyson Fury vs Dilian Whyte promotional press conference. (James Chance/Getty Images)
On the other hand, Dillian Whyte is a tough contender going into the biggest fight of his career so far, with a record of 28-2-0, 19 KOs. The Jamaica native had been waiting a long time for an opportunity of this caliber.
This fight set a record with the highest purse bid ever for a WBC heavyweight championship fight at $40 million, of which Fury is guaranteed $32 million and Whyte $8 million. In fact, the above is one of the reasons why The Body Snatcher has been incredibly unhappy about the fight.
