The fight boxing fans have waited years to see looks as if it has found a home. BBC Sport reports that the heavyweight bout between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua is expected to take place at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Friday 11 December, with an official announcement expected this week. It stresses that final details are still being agreed between Netflix, the Saudi Arabian organisers Sela and both fighters’ teams, so the date and venue are not yet official.
How it almost went to New York
Only weeks ago the fight looked destined for the United States. According to BBC Sport, a date at Madison Square Garden in New York was so close to completion that plans were being made for a news conference in Manhattan. The obstacle was a contract detail. Joshua and Fury signed separate agreements with Sela rather than one joint contract, and Joshua’s explicitly says the fight must be held in the United Kingdom, while Fury’s has no such restriction.
When the organisers and Netflix lobbied to move the show to the US, Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn refused to give up that right. Hearn acknowledged that almost every other party preferred New York, and his company Matchroom explored what compensation would be needed to waive the clause. The stand-off briefly threatened the whole event. Fury publicly accused Joshua of stalling and floated the idea of a trilogy fight with Oleksandr Usyk instead, before he relented.
Why Cardiff, and why not Wembley
Wembley Stadium in London had long been assumed to be the natural home for a fight between the two defining British heavyweights of their generation, and London’s mayor said earlier this month that he wanted it. But the fight, first discussed for November, has slipped into December, and an open-air stadium show in a British winter risks freezing temperatures, wind and rain for tens of thousands of fans and a huge broadcast operation.
An indoor arena such as London’s O2 would remove the weather risk, but at the cost of tens of thousands of ticket sales. The Principality Stadium solves that problem with a retractable roof. Its official seated capacity is just under 74,000, and boxing layouts can hold even more. BBC Sport noted that Joshua has shown he can fill it: he defended his WBA and IBF titles there against Carlos Takam in front of nearly 80,000 people in 2017, then added the WBO belt against Joseph Parker five months later.
- 11 DecExpected date (not yet official)
- ~74,000Seated capacity of the Principality Stadium
- ~80,000Crowd for Joshua v Takam there in 2017
- 01:00 GMTProjected UK ring walk, 20:00 US Eastern time
The Netflix factor
The most difficult hurdle was matching the event to Netflix’s wish to show it in US prime time. A ring walk of about 01:00 GMT would be 20:00 on the US east coast, BBC Sport said, which caused a headache for London because Wembley operates under a strict 23:00 curfew. Cardiff, by a process of elimination, became the answer.
What is still to be confirmed
- An official announcement of the date and venue, expected this week.
- The full undercard, ticket prices and on-sale details, which have not been reported.
- Whether all parties sign off on the final terms.
Until an official statement arrives, treat the date and venue as very likely rather than certain. We will update this story when the fight is confirmed.
