Fury says Joshua fight in doubt over promoter row

Tyson Fury says his all-British heavyweight fight with Anthony Joshua in December is in jeopardy over a row between rival promoters.

The two British former heavyweight champions are set to meet at Cardiff's Principality Stadium on 11 December, with the event due to be broadcast on Netflix, according to BBC. Fury says the threat comes from Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn refusing to work with UFC president Dana White.

Hearn promotes Joshua through his company Matchroom. Frank Warren promotes Fury. The Cardiff event was confirmed as a collaboration between Turki Alalshikh's The Ring and White.

Hearn told IFL TV that White cannot be involved in the promotion, describing it as a breach of contract. Warren said White was influential in securing the deal with Netflix. Fury argues that Hearn's stance is putting the fight in doubt.

The dispute has history. Hearn has been publicly feuding with White since the launch earlier this year of Zuffa Boxing, White's new boxing venture. White is best known as president of the UFC, the mixed martial arts organisation, and is also now boss of Zuffa Boxing.

The date has already shifted once. Talks first centred on November before venue negotiations pushed the expectation to December. A report on 20 September listed 11 December in Cardiff as the target date but noted it had yet to be confirmed and could change, according to Reuters. The latest update presents it as set.

There have been other wobbles. On 7 September, Fury claimed the Joshua fight was off and challenged Oleksandr Usyk instead. More recently, Joshua shared an email from the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association requesting Fury's whereabouts so drug testing could begin, a routine step before a major fight, according to talkSPORT.

For fans, this means the argument is not about boxing. It is about who promotes the show, who controls the contracts and who delivers the broadcast. No cancellation has been announced. With 11 December less than three months after 26 September, any stand-off over who runs the event matters.