Sports
TYSON Fury says his proposed December heavyweight bout against fellow Briton Anthony Joshua is in jeopardy following a dispute between their promoters.
The highly anticipated all-British heavyweight fight was announced earlier this week, with the two former two-time world champions scheduled to meet at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Dec. 11.
The bout is scheduled to be broadcast by Netflix and was announced as a collaboration involving Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh’s The Ring and UFC President Dana White.
However, Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, has objected to White’s involvement in the promotion of the fight.
Fury, in a post on Instagram, alleged that Joshua and Hearn were attempting to withdraw from the bout.
“Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn are trying to pull out of this fight. They’re saying they’re not going to fight now,” Fury said.
He attributed the dispute mainly to Hearn’s objections to White’s involvement.
Hearn, speaking to IFL TV, said White could not be involved in promoting the fight, despite Netflix’s announcement.
“Dana White cannot be involved with this fight promotion. Netflix clearly didn’t get the memo,” Hearn said.
He added that his position was based on contractual considerations.
“It’s a little bit annoying but as I’ve shown through the UK battle that we won, we stand by our contracts,” Hearn said.
Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren, had earlier said White played an influential role in securing the deal with Netflix after the fight was confirmed.
The disagreement between Hearn and White follows a public feud between the two promoters, which intensified after the launch of Zuffa Boxing earlier this year.
Fury’s latest comments also follow a social media post earlier this month in which he suggested that Joshua, 36, was backing out of the fight.
Fury subsequently called for a third bout with Ukrainian former unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
There was no official statement from Hearn or Warren in Netflix’s announcement of the fight.
The BBC reported that it had contacted Matchroom, Queensberry Promotions, The Ring and Netflix for comment.
The dispute is the latest setback in the long-running attempts to stage a Fury-Joshua fight.
In 2020, the camps agreed the basis of a two-fight deal, while contracts were signed in 2021 for an undisputed heavyweight contest.
That fight did not take place after Deontay Wilder won an arbitration case that required Fury to honour his contractual commitment to a third fight with the American.
In 2022, Joshua accepted a 60-40 financial split to challenge Fury, but the proposed fight again failed to materialise.
Fury and Joshua eventually signed contracts for their latest proposed bout earlier this year, with the date and venue confirmed this week.
The latest disagreement has now raised uncertainty over whether the Dec. 11 contest will proceed as announced. (BBC)
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