Fury says Joshua fight is at risk over Dana White's promotional role

Tyson Fury says his December fight with Anthony Joshua is in jeopardy because of a dispute over Dana White's involvement in the promotion, BBC Sport reported on Saturday. The heavyweight contest was announced earlier this week for 11 December at Cardiff's Principality Stadium, with Netflix set to broadcast it. Fury's warning does not amount to confirmation that the bout has been cancelled.

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The announcement presented the event as a collaboration between Turki Alalshikh's The Ring and UFC president White. Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, objects to White taking a promotional role, saying it would breach their contract. According to the BBC, Hearn and White have been publicly at odds since the launch of Zuffa Boxing earlier this year, and that disagreement now extends to the arrangements for this fight.

In an Instagram post, Fury accused Joshua and Hearn of trying to withdraw and blamed Hearn's refusal to work with White. He also claimed Alalshikh was looking for alternative opponents. Those assertions were Fury's account of the situation. The BBC report did not confirm that Joshua had withdrawn or identify a replacement who had agreed to face Fury.

Hearn separately told IFL TV that White could not be involved in promoting the event, despite the wording of Netflix's announcement. He said the parties would have to address the issue and maintained that his company would uphold its contracts. Fury's promoter, Frank Warren, offered a different perspective on White's contribution, saying he had played an influential part in securing the Netflix deal.

The announcement distributed by Netflix contained no official statement from either Hearn or Warren, according to BBC Sport. The broadcaster said it had approached Matchroom, Warren's Queensberry Promotions, The Ring and Netflix for comment. Fury had also suggested earlier this month that Joshua was backing out, before calling for another meeting with Oleksandr Usyk.

Previous efforts to arrange Fury against Joshua have repeatedly stalled. The camps agreed the outline of a two-fight deal in 2020, then signed contracts for an undisputed title contest in 2021 before Deontay Wilder won arbitration requiring a third Fury fight. Another attempt failed in 2022 after Joshua accepted a 60-40 purse split. The BBC reported that Fury and Joshua signed contracts again earlier this year, with the date and venue only confirmed this week.