Fury v Joshua: Why It Took a Decade

12 Nov

Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Boxing, Heavyweight, Netflix, Cardiff — After a decade of collapsed talks, the ring is finally set for 11 December.

Ten Years, Two Rivals And Countless Collapsed Deals: Why Fury v Joshua Took A Decade

They first shared a ring in 2010, in a sparring session at an amateur club in north London. For the next sixteen years, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua never shared one again.

That ends on Friday 11 December 2026, when the two former world heavyweight champions finally meet at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. The fight will stream live on Netflix around the world at no extra cost to subscribers, with the main event expected in the early hours of Saturday morning, UK time.

It arrives years later than anyone wanted. When it was first discussed seriously, Fury v Joshua was the biggest fight in boxing: two British champions holding all four major heavyweight belts between them. Now both are in their late 30s, and each has lost twice to Oleksandr Usyk.

Fury himself summed it up at the launch press conference in London on 30 September: "It's been 10 years in the making." So why did it take so long?

Fury v Joshua: The Date, Venue And How To Watch

The fight was confirmed on 24 September 2026 by the Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh. "For 15 years no-one has been able to make this fight," he wrote. "I can now confirm that Fury v Joshua will be coming to the UK, as I promised British boxing fans."

The undercard begins on the Friday night, with the main-event ringwalks scheduled for the small hours of Saturday 12 December to suit a prime-time audience in the United States. Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, said his understanding was around 1am or 1.30am GMT, while Fury's promoter, Frank Warren, ruled out anything as late as 4am.

The Principality Stadium holds up to 80,000 and has a closing roof, which matters in December. It has staged late-night boxing before: Joe Calzaghe's 2007 win over Mikkel Kessler started after 1am to suit American television, and Joshua himself unified titles there against Joseph Parker in 2018.

The card also includes Deontay Wilder, Fury's old rival, against the unbeaten Australian Jai Opetaia, who is moving up to heavyweight. At the time of the announcement, the main event was described as a non-title bout, although reports suggested the WBA's "super" heavyweight title could be on the line. Check the official billing before the fight.

The promotion is led by Alalshikh's The Ring alongside the UFC chief executive Dana White, with the event financed from Saudi Arabia. Neither Hearn's Matchroom nor Warren's Queensberry was named in the announcement.

The Early Years: Champions On Different Paths

The first reason the fight did not happen is that, at the moment it mattered most, only one of them was fighting.

Fury shocked Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 to become unified world champion. Within months, he had been stripped of the IBF belt, and he then spent more than two and a half years out of the ring while dealing with mental health problems.

Joshua, meanwhile, became world champion in 2016 and held the IBF title across two spells until 2021, also winning the WBA and WBO belts. By the time Fury returned in 2018, Joshua was the established champion and Fury was rebuilding.

2020 And 2021: The Closest They Came

In June 2020, Hearn announced that both men had agreed in principle to a two-fight deal for 2021. By then, Fury had beaten Deontay Wilder in February 2020 to take the WBC title, so the fight would have been for all four major belts.

In March 2021 a two-fight contract was signed. The first fight was targeted for 14 August 2021 in Saudi Arabia, and the day before a key court hearing, Fury said publicly that it was agreed.

Then it collapsed. Wilder's team argued that he had a contractual right to a third fight with Fury. In May 2021, an American arbitrator, the retired judge Daniel Weinstein, agreed and ordered Fury to face Wilder before 15 September.

Fury fought Wilder instead, and won. Joshua took on Usyk and lost all three of his belts. The undisputed fight was gone, and it has never been on the table since.

2022: The Deadline That Ended Talks

Fury announced his retirement after beating Dillian Whyte in April 2022. By September, he had changed his mind. On 5 September, after Joshua lost a rematch with Usyk, Fury called him out in a video, offering him a shot at the WBC title "in the next few months".

Joshua accepted the next day. His management later said they had accepted Fury's terms, a 60-40 purse split in Fury's favour, and a provisional date of 17 December in Cardiff was discussed.

But a signed contract was elusive. Fury set a deadline of Monday 26 September. Joshua's team said there was "no chance" of a full contract being signed that quickly. When the deadline passed, Fury declared on Instagram: "It's officially over for Joshua. He is now out in the cold with the wolfpack."

2023 To 2025: Saudi Money And More Defeats

Saudi Arabia's growing role in boxing gave the fight a new backer. Alalshikh repeatedly said he wanted to make it.

But both men kept losing at the worst moment. In September 2024, before Joshua fought Daniel Dubois for the IBF title at Wembley, Alalshikh said an offer for Fury v Joshua would be made. "The world wants to see Fury versus Joshua," he said, but it depended on Joshua winning.

He did not. Dubois knocked Joshua out. Fury lost to Usyk in May 2024 and again in a rematch that December. In January 2025, Fury announced his retirement once more, in a short video that ended with: "Dick Turpin wore a mask."

Hearn questioned whether the retirement was genuine. "When that fight with AJ is a fight that can be made in two minutes in a room, I am always hopeful," he said at the time.

2026: The Deal That Finally Stuck

Fury returned, and Joshua's career took a different turn. In December 2025, Joshua knocked out the YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on Netflix, a fight that introduced him to a wider American audience. Later that month, he was a passenger in a car crash in Nigeria in which two close friends and members of his team were killed. He did not fight again for seven months.

By April 2026, Fury had beaten Arslanbek Makhmudov on points in London, with Joshua ringside, and both men had signed contracts with Alalshikh. Hearn announced the fight was "signed, sealed and delivered".

There were still warm-up fights to come. In July, Fury stopped the 46-year-old Mariusz Wach in Thailand, and Joshua survived two knockdowns in the first round to stop the Albanian Kristian Prenga in Saudi Arabia. Reports suggested purses of around $100m (£75m) each.

The last obstacle was the venue. Netflix, backed by Alalshikh and White's team, wanted Madison Square Garden in New York. Joshua had insisted on a contract clause guaranteeing the fight would be in the UK, and refused to drop it.

"If we hadn't put that in the contract, which was a request from Anthony Joshua that the fight must be in the UK, we wouldn't have had a leg to stand on," Hearn said. "This fight would have been in America." Warren said Fury had compromised by agreeing to fight wherever it was held. The result was Cardiff, with a start time arranged to suit the American audience.

Why It Took A Decade

Looking back, there was no single reason. The fight was blocked by a series of things that would each have been enough on their own:

Timing. Fury's absence from 2016 to 2018 came just as Joshua became champion.
Contracts. The Wilder arbitration killed the 2021 deal at the last moment.
Rival camps. Fury and Joshua have different promoters. In 2021, a deal needed three promoters, several broadcasters, four sanctioning bodies and a venue to agree, and in 2022 talks fell apart before a contract was signed.
Defeats. Usyk beat both men twice, and Dubois knocked out Joshua just as a deal was being prepared.
Retirements. Fury retired twice in three years.
Money and geography. Saudi finance and Netflix's American audience made the final deal possible, and nearly moved it out of Britain.

What The Fight Means Now

The stakes are different from what they once were. This is no longer a fight to decide the best heavyweight in the world. Both men need to win to stay relevant at the top of the division, and Warren has suggested the loser's career may end in Cardiff. Hearn said there is no rematch clause.

Fury goes in with the better recent record, 36 wins, two defeats and a draw, against Joshua's 30 wins and four defeats. Joshua still has the punch that has ended 27 of his fights early.

What has not changed is the rivalry. Joshua spoke at the press conference about families falling out over who would win. Fury said he would "throw down in front of 80,000 people". After a decade of failed talks, the only question left is what happens in the ring.

For another heavyweight story that Netflix has turned into a global event, read our guide to Mike Tyson's rise and fall and the real story behind Netflix's Tyson.

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Sources

James Taylor