The proposed heavyweight contest between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, the fight we’ve all been waiting for, just got hit with a gut punch bigger than anything in the ring. After an agreement was finally reached on Friday for these two titans to meet in Cardiff on December 11, Tyson Fury himself came out swinging, estimating the likelihood of the fight actually happening at a mind-boggling one percent. You read that right: *one percent*.
The Promoters Are Throwing Hands (Not Fists)
This whole thing went sideways almost immediately after the December 11 date got locked in. Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, started poking holes, specifically questioning the involvement of American promoter Dana White. Remember, White, the UFC and Zuffa Boxing chief, was officially named to co-promote the event alongside The Ring, which is an organization owned by Saudi powerbroker Turki Alalshikh. Seems like a simple setup, right? Wrong.
Fury dropped his bombshell on Saturday via his YouTube channel, alleging that Hearn and Joshua are the ones trying to back out. He was blunt about it, saying, “If you’ve got a guy that wants to fight, and you’ve got a guy that doesn’t want to fight, then how are you going to make that fight happen?” That’s a mic drop moment, telling us exactly where he stands.
Dana White Ain’t Holding Back, And Hearn Fires Back
Dana White wasn’t about to let Fury carry all the weight on this one. After Johnny Fisher’s win at the Copper Box on Saturday, White talked to Sky Sports and he was defiant, plain and simple. “I’m involved in the fight,” he stated, leaving zero room for doubt on his end. But then he went straight for Eddie Hearn’s throat.
White didn’t pull any punches, saying if Hearn “really cared about this fight, first of all it would have happened a long time ago, number one.” Ouch. He doubled down, claiming Hearn “could finance the thing himself” and then delivered the knockout blow: “The guy who’s supposed to be helping the fight has been hurting the fight the entire time.” Talk about lighting a fire! White promised we’d “know more in the next three or four days,” so we’re all on pins and needles.
Adding fuel to this whole mess, Hearn had apparently said earlier this week that Joshua’s camp didn’t even agree to Fury being the A-side for the fight. But get this: when Netflix announced the fight on Thursday, Fury’s name was listed *first* on the poster. That’s a pretty clear signal, isn’t it?
Hearn, speaking to iFL TV the same day, tried to downplay it, saying they “got a lot of stuff to still sort out around the fight. The preferences of who gets what.” He even waved off the “Fury vs AJ” poster order, saying, “No problem, we couldn’t care less. No, no, that was never agreed.” Yikes. Sounds like a classic miscommunication, or maybe something more. He openly questioned if a press conference scheduled for next week would even happen because “there are a few things we’re still ironing out.”
So what’s next in this heavyweight soap opera? Fury and Joshua are still scheduled to attend a press conference in London on Wednesday. But with Fury giving it a one percent chance, and Hearn openly wondering if the press conference itself will even happen, it feels like this whole thing could implode before our eyes. Will they sort out the preferences? Will White’s deadline of “three or four days” reveal anything concrete? This isn’t just about a fight anymore, it’s about whether the era’s biggest British fighters can even get past their own promoters. Keep your eyes peeled, because this drama is just getting started.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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