After a decade of stalled negotiations, public squabbling and false starts, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will finally meet in the ring on 11 December at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
BBC Sport understands the WBA ‘Super’ heavyweight title is expected to be on the line, although confirmation from the governing body is still awaited.
It would give both former world champions the chance to regain a version of the heavyweight crown, although Fury-Joshua has always been about more than belts.
The fight arrives later than anybody wanted, with both in the twilight of their careers, but for years British boxing’s biggest heavyweight rivalry seemed destined to remain a story of what might have been.
Yet Thursday’s announcement of an 80,000-capacity showdown, broadcast globally by Netflix, did more than finally provide a date and venue.
It also offered a glimpse of the competing interests, egos and power struggles involved in getting one of boxing’s most elusive fights over the line.
How compromise finally got the fight made
Speaking to BBC Sport after the fight was announced, Fury’s promoter Frank Warren repeatedly returned to one word: compromise.
“Everybody’s got to make a compromise,” the Queensberry boss said. “Tyson really compromised. He didn’t dig his heels in.
“He said, ‘Fine, wherever they want it, I’ll do it. If they want me to go to New York, I’ll go. They want it in the UK, I just want to get the fight on.”
The fighters had already agreed to the contest but the venue was a sticking point.
Warren says Netflix wanted New York, while Joshua, 36, was determined to fight in Britain. Predictably, their camps disagree over who finally got it done.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn described the push to keep the fight in Britain as a “two-man crusade”.
“AJ has turned down money to keep it in the UK,” Hearn told the Matchroom YouTube channel. “I wouldn’t be able to look people in the eye if I was part of the movement to take this to the US.”
Hearn says Joshua had specifically requested protection for a UK fight in his contract and refused to relent.
“We were under so much pressure to fold,” he added. “It was only really the support of the British public that made Joshua stand 10 toes down and say no.”
Warren sees it differently.
He says Fury, 38, could have insisted on his own contractual position but instead accepted Britain to ensure the fight did not collapse.
The power struggle and Dana White sideshow
Perhaps the biggest sideshow has been the struggle for influence around the promotion itself.
Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh announced the fight, having previously insisted any confirmation would come from him.
“For 15 years no-one has been able to make this fight,” he wrote. “Back in April, I said that any announcement would come from me. I can now confirm that Fury v Joshua will be coming to the UK, as I promised British boxing fans. The time for talking is over.”
Dana White’s involvement is particularly intriguing.
The UFC chief is partnered with Alalshikh through Zuffa Boxing and featured prominently in the announcement, with Netflix describing the event as a collaboration involving White and Alalshikh’s The Ring. Hearn and Warren were absent.
Hearn had previously said White would not be involved in promoting the fight, while Warren says both fighters’ contracts stipulated the same.
Yet Warren says White ultimately helped secure the Netflix deal but believes fans care little about the promotional politics.
“I don’t know whether he will be front and centre or not,” Warren said.
Wednesday’s news conference in London may tell us more – not least how prominent White is and how he and Hearn share the stage after months of back-and-forth.
Ringwalk and what happens to the winner?
Even Cardiff comes with competing claims of credit.
Hearn had publicly pushed for the Principality Stadium in recent weeks, while Warren told BBC Sport Queensberry and Saudi events company Sela spent several months working “quietly” with the venue and local authorities.
The stadium’s retractable roof makes it well suited to a December event and there is precedent for late night boxing.
Joe Calzaghe’s victory over Mikkel Kessler there in 2007 took place under a closed roof, with the fight starting after 01:00 GMT to accommodate American television. Fury-Joshua is expected to follow a similar pattern.
The exact ringwalk time remains in the hands of Netflix, with Hearn saying his current understanding is around 01:00 or 01:30 GMT. Warren has ruled out anything as late as 04:00.
“If it went on in America you’d be watching it five o’clock in the morning,” Warren said. “It’s a compromise and it’s an event.”
There is no contractual rematch clause, according to Hearn. “We’re coming in for the kind of victory that no-one will need to see the fight again,” he said.
Warren believes the winner can continue towards further world-title opportunities. For the loser, he thinks the road may end in Cardiff.
Whatever the outcome, Fury-Joshua has long been defined by the reasons it did not happen.
But in just over eleven weeks there will be no more negotiations, competing claims or hypothetical outcomes – just Fury and Joshua, in the same ring at last.
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