Tyson Fury has stated that his highly anticipated bout against Anthony Joshua in December is facing potential cancellation due to an ongoing dispute between rival promoters. The all-British heavyweight clash, scheduled for 11 December at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, was announced earlier this week after years of stalled negotiations.
The conflict centers on the involvement of UFC president Dana White and Saudi Arabia’s boxing figure Turki Alalshikh in organizing the event. Eddie Hearn, who promotes Joshua, has publicly clashed with White since the launch of Zuffa Boxing earlier this year. Hearn contends that White’s participation violates existing contractual agreements.
Fury took to Instagram to accuse Joshua and Hearn of attempting to withdraw from the fight. He attributed the instability to Hearn’s ego, suggesting that the Matchroom promoter is creating obstacles and generating false narratives about the bout being off.
“Now you’ve got Turki Alalshikh finding alternative real men who will fight at the drop of a hand. Eddie Hearn has cost us the biggest fight in boxing history,” Fury wrote, alleging that Hearn is fabricating excuses to avoid the contest.
Hearn pushed back against the idea, telling IFL TV that White’s involvement was unacceptable despite Netflix’s confirmation of the partnership. “Dana White cannot be involved with this fight promotion. Netflix clearly didn’t get the memo. No-one talks to each other,” Hearn said, emphasizing that Matchroom remains committed to their contractual obligations.
Frank Warren, Fury’s promoter, defended White’s role, stating that the UFC chief was instrumental in securing the deal with Netflix once the fight was confirmed. This public disagreement adds to a complex history between the two camps, which includes a two-fight agreement reached in 2020 and a collapsed undisputed title shot in 2021 following Deontay Wilder’s arbitration success.
After another attempt in 2022 fell through, contracts were finally signed earlier this year. However, Fury recently hinted that Joshua might be backing out and called for a trilogy fight against Oleksandr Usyk. BBC Sport has reached out to Matchroom, Queensberry Promotions, The Ring, and Netflix for comment, but no official statements have been released regarding the current impasse.
Leave a Reply