The highly anticipated heavyweight clash between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua is now in doubt. This comes just days after the fight was confirmed. The problem started over a disagreement between the promoters about UFC president Dana White's role in the event.
The fight was announced on Thursday to take place at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on December 11. This ended years of failed talks. The event was set to be a joint effort between Saudi boxing promoter Turki Alalshikh’s The Ring and White. It will also be shown on Netflix. But this arrangement has become a major issue.
Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, has been at odds with White for months. Hearn claims that White’s involvement breaks their contract. Fury accused Hearn and Joshua of trying to back out of the fight because of this disagreement.
“Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn are trying to pull out of this fight. They are saying they are not going to fight now,” Fury said on Instagram.
“It is mainly to do with Eddie Hearn’s ego. He is making up a million different things and threatening that we are not going to fight. Now you have got Turki Alalshikh finding alternative real men who will fight at the drop of a hat. Eddie Hearn has cost us the biggest fight in boxing history.”
Hearn has been openly fighting with White since Zuffa Boxing launched earlier this year. This dispute also includes White signing former Matchroom fighter Conor Benn. Hearn spoke to IFL TV and stressed that White cannot be part of the promotion.
“Dana White cannot be involved with this fight promotion. Netflix clearly did not get the memo. No one talks to each other,” Hearn said.
“Then Netflix say the fight is in conjunction with Dana White. Now we have to go through that process and deal with it. It is a little bit annoying, but as I have shown through the UK battle that we won, we stand by our contracts.”
Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren, said White helped secure the Netflix deal after the fight was confirmed. Neither Hearn nor Warren made an official comment on Netflix’s announcement of the bout.
A press conference is reportedly scheduled for Wednesday in London. Both sides are expected to want the issue sorted out quickly. There are less than 11 weeks left before the fight is set to happen.
The fight has faced several delays since 2020 when the two sides first agreed on a two-fight deal. Contracts for an undisputed heavyweight title fight were signed in 2021. But Deontay Wilder’s arbitration case forced Fury into a third fight with Wilder.
A 2022 attempt also fell through, even after Joshua agreed to a 60-40 financial split. Finally, Fury and Joshua signed contracts for the Cardiff fight earlier this year.
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