It was on, then off, then on again, then off again, then on.
Even Eddie Hearn, sport’s greatest spin doctor, could not pretend that the last seven days had not been fraught with danger for those who only get a pay cheque if Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua both turn up on 11 December at the Principality Stadium.
Fortunately for Hearn’s children, it looks like he will get paid a hefty sum two weeks before Christmas. Fury vs Joshua is on, but only after “simmering nicely for about a decade and a half,” as Fury put it.
“The rise has been phenomenal from both fighters,” he added.
“We’ve both had our ups and downs, and finally, we arrive at this moment. I’m 38. AJ is 37, or will be soon [on 15 October].
The ‘Finally’ branding is a little too close to the truth (Photo: Getty)“And people say, ‘Is it too late?’. Is it f**k too late!
“It’s the icing on the cake of two great careers, to throw down in front of 80,000 people. May the best man win. Let’s go out f**king swinging.”
But Fury said the quiet part out loud, contradicting himself not for the first or last time: both have been great fighters and ridden the rollercoaster – but neither is anywhere near his peak. “Let’s go out swinging.” Indeed, retirement beckons both men after this monumental payday, estimated at £75m each.
The self-styled Gypsy King is surely the A-side of this fight, first name on the poster and last one onto the stage. Yet he has not won a high-quality fight for five years, since beating Deontay Wilder twice in 18 months, flooring him five times across those two fights. Ending the Bronze Bomber’s reign as world champion remains the crowning achievement of Fury’s second career. The win over Wladimir Klitschko, which came before a three-year hiatus, was the zenith of the first chapter.
This all-British fight is nowhere near the calibre of that earth-shattering night in Germany, now 11 years in the rear-view mirror, and Fury no longer has an unbeaten record to boast about. He was beaten twice by Oleksandr Usyk before retiring again at Christmas in 2024, an absence that few predicted would be permanent. Sure enough, he came back full of threats and promises – the only surprise was that he actually delivered on one of them, and booked the fight with Joshua.
"I'M THE BOSS. KNOW THAT." Things are getting heated #FuryJoshua | Dec 11th | Live only on Netflix pic.twitter.com/oD9eTyXDzm
— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) September 30, 2026Who stood in the way and who really made this fight will be argued about for decades to come. Hearn, Frank Warren, Turki Alalshikh and Dana White all lay claim to the central role. How UFC figurehead White is allowed to be involved remains the subject of public and private wrangling, with Hearn and his MMA counterpart’s planet-sized egos struggling to fit into the same solar system.
Hearn feels like the natural owner of this bout, having been the one who brought Joshua into the pro world despite doubts over his amateur pedigree. Warren meanwhile deserves equal credit as the Fury whisperer, managing to avoid permanently falling out with one of boxing’s most unpredictable characters, in a crowded field.
White’s claim to the throne is having brought the money to the table. He is the hand of boxing’s king, Alalshikh. His Excellency, as he calls himself, despite having no royal position.
But Hearn has made White the heel of the piece, and his name was booed when Alalshikh tried to thank him during one of his random interjections into a chaotic press conference.
The format wasn’t clear. Netflix host Max Kellerman tried to inject some gravitas by lecturing the audience about the codification of boxing some 200 years ago, and was shouted over by Fury’s friends and family, and the hundreds of fans who had bought tickets, which were only released once organisers were confident it would go ahead: 24 hours in advance.
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Kevin Garside: Fury vs Joshua is a £150m joke – but we will all be paying to watch Tony Bellew: Nigel Farage ghosted me after I’m a CelebrityKellerman did not even know when tickets for the fight itself – the whole point of a press conference – would go on sale. His notes just said “12” and he wasn’t sure if that meant midnight or midday.
It will not matter, because they will sell like hot cakes. “This fight sells itself,” said legendary boxing commentator Steve Bunce, sometimes a writer in these pages. He is right, but between platitudes Fury and Joshua did remember their training and produced some marketing spiel.
But Joshua only added to the surreal feel of the evening by claiming that “in pubs, people have had proper fights about who is going to win”.
“I know family members have fell out with each other about who is going to win,” he added, a claim that seems about as credible as Manchester City’s “irrefutable evidence”.
But Joshua has no need for fabrication. While this fight certainly comes too late, it is better than it never happening at all. And all these two actually need to do is turn up fit on the night, and fight. After weeks, months and years of arguments, 12 rounds on a Cardiff canvas will settle at least one.
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