To the uninitiated, the ongoing saga of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury may look like a mess of pettiness and confusion.
The matchup, nearly a decade in the making, seemed to have reached critical mass, with Saudi businessman Turki Al-Sheikh providing the necessary paychecks to finally bring the two parties together in the ring. While no formal announcements had been made, a deal seemed to be done for the fight before roadblocks began to appear, first the venue and now the inclusion of Dana White in the promotion of the event.
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In one corner are Turki, TKO, Netflix, and Fury, all aligned in similar interests. Turki arrives as a partner with TKO in Zuffa Boxing, through Saudi investment firm Sela. While nominally promoted by British boxing chief Frank Warren, many of Fury’s recent fights have been in service of Turki, who, via his The Ring promotional vehicle, has funded many of boxing’s most recent blockbuster fights.
Netflix has used its healthy licensing fees to lure these big event fights that include Joshua vs. Jake Paul and Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford, using these “event” fights to drive subscriptions and ad revenue. With Turki’s The Ring having little infrastructure, he has availed himself of the services of TKO’s Zuffa Boxing and their promotional talent in Dana White and Nick Khan and their attendant infrastructure. TKO’s involvement helped alleviate one problem: Fury’s inability to get a US visa to promote the fight because of his past connections to Irish mobster Daniel Kinahan. TKO’s political connections seemed to resolve the visa issue, as Fury attended the UFC’s White House event, ostensibly to unveil the fight, though no such announcement was made.
In the opposing corner stand Eddie Hearn and Anthony Joshua. Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing is a longtime stalwart of the British boxing scene, founded in 1982 by Eddie’s father Barry Hearn. Hearn has promoted Joshua since 2013, signing Joshua after his gold medal performance at the London 2012 Olympics. Much of Joshua’s career has taken place in the UK, where his fights have filled stadiums. As Turki entered boxing with the money to finally make the big fights, Hearn increasingly collaborated with Al-Sheikh, promoting Joshua fights in both the UK and Saudi Arabia under Turki’s auspices.
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The first hurdle for Joshua v. Fury was the venue. Hearn included contractual language mandating the fight take place in the UK, a clause Turki played fast and loose with. With Netflix providing the licensing fee and serving as the event’s broadcaster, a New York City date at Madison Square Garden was pushed as the location, amenable to prime time in America and able to host a coterie of Netflix executives and employees. Hearn balked at the move, motivated as much by tax implications as by patriotism. Hearn refused to waive this contractual requirement of a UK fight unless the monetary pot was sweetened to offset any lost earnings. A fight already priced at a premium for both fighters, Turki capitulated, and the bout was announced this past Thursday for Friday, Dec. 11, 2026, at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
The next hurdle came with the press release announcing the fight, which said Dana White would serve in a promotional role. Both fighters’ contracts included a clause forbidding Dana White from participating in the event. British promoters Warren and Hearn have served both Fury and Joshua, and White’s inclusion was seen as an American interloper on a decidedly British fight. Fury later waived this clause on his side, but Hearn has held fast to this stipulation, to the point of possibly scuppering the bout late Friday night.
Hearn’s obstinance at Dana White’s participation is understandable after viewing some of Zuffa Boxing’s moves since their initial event in January. Zuffa Boxing has been an existential threat to Hearn’s Matchroom. White and Zuffa have signed away Matchroom stars like Conor Benn and Johnny Fisher on contracts well above market value. Zuffa has also eyed the UK market that Hearn calls home, signing a broadcast deal with Sky and putting on events in the UK, including Johnny Fisher on Saturday night. These Zuffa moves have elicited a war of words between the two. Podcasts and online videos have been filled with their verbal jousting, leading to calls by Hearn for them to settle things with a formal bout in the ring, one that White has declined.
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Hearn’s insistence on meeting these contract clauses may come across as pettiness, and that may ring true, but it also feels like Hearn drawing a line in the sand. Such moves may sour his relationship with Al-Sheikh, but with Saudi providing Zuffa with the money to sign away his homegrown fighters, that relationship may not last long. The Joshua v Fury fight appears to be a necessary severing to ensure Matchroom’s survival.
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