Fury vs Joshua: Sound Off, Face Off Wednesday

• • Former world heavyweight champions Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua had their first faceoff and words on Wednesday in London ahead of their December 11 showdown.
    Advertisement
  • Participants, including Turki Alalshihk, Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn, were all smiles. Dana White was nowhere in sight.

  • The fight takes place at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, and airs worldwide on Netflix. Tickets go on sale October 8.

• Former world heavyweight champions Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua had their first faceoff and words on Wednesday in London ahead of their December 11 showdown.

  Advertisement

• Participants, including Turki Alalshihk, Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn, were all smiles. Dana White was nowhere in sight.

• The fight takes place at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, and airs worldwide on Netflix. Tickets go on sale October 8.

Former world heavyweight champions Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua had their first faceoff and words on Wednesday in London ahead of their December 11 showdown.

Participants, including Turki Alalshihk, Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn, were all smiles. Dana White was nowhere in sight.

The fight takes place at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, and airs worldwide on Netflix. Tickets go on sale October 8.

In many ways, Wednesday’s news conference looked no different than so many previous news conferences featuring Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, and their respective promoters Frank Warren of Queensberry and Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport. Never mind that it was ten years in the making.

The wrangling over the venue (New York vs the UK) and promoter pettiness wore out fans and boxing media. But like other mega fights left in the oven too long, fans will finally get this matchup with the ingredients nearly past their “Use By” dates. But in 2026, it’s boxing’s biggest commercial fight.

In London on Wednesday, Fury entered from the left, Joshua from the right, separated by a good distance by the podium where Max Kellerman stood. The fight was discussed, often with good humor and respect. The faceoff took place. A boisterous crowd sounded off at nearly every remark.

Host Max Kellerman opened by establishing Great Britain as the original home of modern boxing until American heavyweights and then Wladimir Klitschko came along. “Who was ever going to beat Wladimir Klitschko?” asked Kellerman.

Fans know that Tyson Fury first defeated Klitschko to become the heavyweight champion. But his personal demons bettered him where Klitschko could not. Anthony Joshua stepped into the void created by Fury’s absence, beating Klitschko and one-upping Fury by getting off the canvas to deliver a thrilling slugfest.

<

On stage Wednesday: Tyson, Max, AJ, Eddie. No Dana. Photo: Zacharias Delgado, Matchroom Boxing

When Fury returned, many assumed he and Joshua would prove who deserved to reign as the sole champion. It took another decade to make it happen. Although he is a polarizing figure to some, a savior to others, Turki Alalshikh deservedly took the credit and acknowledged the recognition from his seat in the audience.

“It is not about me,” said Alalshikh, crediting ‘his boss,’ likely a reference to Mohammed Bin Salman, Crown Prince and ruler of Saudi Arabia.

Most reports may ignore the more somber, impactful news about boxing’s future from Turki Alalshikh. Not by NYFights. Read more about Turki’s frail health and its effect on boxing’s future here.

<

Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn were all smiles Wednesday. Photo: Zacharias Delgado, Matchroom Boxing

“Listen, we’re going to have some fun at this press conference,” said Joshua, but took a moment to express his thanks and ask for a moment of silence for people lost to the boxing community, including his two former training team members killed in the Nigerian car accident that seriously injured Joshua, along with Ricky Hatton.

After some good-natured badgering and contrasting recollections about a long-ago sparring session, Fury admitted to having respect for Joshua’s rise as a world champion.

“During the time when AJ became world champion, I was getting drunk every day and taking cocaine every week, so I wasn’t really concentrating on anybody else but my own well-being at that time.” said Fury.

“But listen, the one thing I will say, right? All the banter and all are trying to sell the shows aside. Listen, this man’s a two-time world heavyweight champ, Olympic gold medalist. He’s been a role model and a poster boy for British boxing for years,” said Fury.

“I’ve just got something in me. I can just do what I do,” explained Joshua. “When I walked in the gym when I was 18 years old. Three years later I was fighting for Great Britain at the Olympics. It’s just what we do. It’s not complicated, I swear.

“Thing with boxing, I don’t find it too complicated, boxing. It’s pretty straightforward. It’s spirit versus spirit. It’s just man versus man, and the best man will win,” said Joshua.

Asked for his prediction on how the fight against Fury will progress, Joshua expressed confidence in his performance.

“I’m willing to take and take, punch after punch, and keep moving forward until my hands raise. And I’m looking forward to it. I know it’s going to be difficult, not in the sense that I’m not capable, but I know every fight got its challenges, and I’m just looking forward to keep on pushing forward until I get that victory because it’s just what’s in me. I just can’t wait!”

Joshua promised to blast Fury out like the gunfight at the OK Corral and insisted he will not run or box. “I’m going to throw down, and from what I’m seeing, I’m going to catch him. And when I do, it’s going to be curtains, and that’s it.

“This is the energy that we want. This is the fight. There’s nothing else I expect from this man than to say he’s gonna render me unconscious and do everything he can to stick me to the canvas,” said Joshua, calling it the inspiration to train hard for December 11.

<

Tyson Fury was in good spirits as he talked up the fight as only The Gypsy King can. Photo: Zacharias Delgado, Matchroom Boxing

“Me and AJ is going to go there and throw down, and it’s just it’s an unbelievable event because it’s been simmering nicely for about a decade and a half, and it’s been an unbelievable journey having both of us together,” said Fury, with their record of world championships.

“This man’s built like an Adonis. I’m built like a Blancmange. But still, what I always say is, you can’t put muscles on the trash. And when I crack him on that jaw with a big right hand, he’s going to go down like a sack of shit!” declared Fury.

Fury called himself the most unlikely of champions, but he always beat the odds. “I stand here today as the most awkwardly built world heavyweight champion in the history of sport. I’m a bald, fat, bearded, ugly, slow, ponderous – all of the above, whatever people want to say. But at the end of the day, I get shit done.”

The only true war of words was a brief exchange between Fury and Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn.

“You don’t own shit. I’m the boss. Know that. And Eddie don’t like that. He’s fucking seething,” said Fury.

Fury criticized Hearn’s bickering over the fight location and promoter roles, but ultimately said he didn’t have a problem with Hearn, saying he’d never been rude to him.

A deadpan Hearn said, “Thank you for your kind words.”

Fury offered to join Hearn for a pint of Guinness after the fight, and the same with Joshua. “Win, lose, or draw, let’s fucking bury the axes and have a beer like this. Have a fight first and then have a beer. How’s that sound?”

<

All is right with British boxing – for now. Photo: Zacharias Delgado, Matchroom Boxing

Hearn and Joshua were noncommittal about the pub crawl, but Hearn got the final word, expressing his enthusiasm moving forward despite any fallout over the last week.

“I promise you, on December the 11th, this will be the greatest night you’ve ever had in boxing, and this is the biggest fight in boxing.

“What I’ll say is this, and I’ll give Tyson his respect as well, but this guy (Joshua) has changed the face of boxing in this country. Right? So has Tyson Fury. Right? We are the envy of the boxing world,” declared Hearn, saying he couldn’t see taking Britain’s biggest fighters in their biggest moment and stage it anywhere but the UK.

“We had to fight our corner, and you will be so happy that the biggest fight in boxing will happen December 11 in the UK. Thank you all to the British public for putting the pressure on and making sure we made it happen,” adding a closing round of thank yous.

“There isn’t a fight out there that can even come close to the excitement and what’s going to happen, the build-up, everything. It’s just a whole event, a global event where everybody can watch it,” added Fury.

“Finally, now towards the end of it all, we both get to fight each other on the world’s biggest stage with the world’s biggest broadcaster, and everyone’s going to be there, and everybody’s going to want to be there even more,” predicting a quick sellout when tickets go on sale on October 8.

Joshua called it breathtaking. “God gave me this opportunity before I was born. My destiny was written, and I’m living up to the expectation that God has of me, and I’m just happy to be here fighting and fulfilling my destiny before I depart this world. It’s a blessing.”

This discussion is far from over. The bad blood between White and Hearn hasn’t magically vanished. It’s only been shelved for now. The battle underway for the soul of professional boxing will continue long after December 11.

Advertisement