Eddie Hearn has once again hinted at a possible boycott of the Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury fight, even though it has already been officially announced.
Eddie Hearn has made a surprising boycott threat even though the Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury fight has finally been announced. After a long wait, it was confirmed on Thursday that the two British heavyweights will face off at Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Friday, December 11.
Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh shared the news on X, along with a press release full of important details. Hearn, who was clear that the fight wouldn’t happen in the United States because of contract rules, thanked the British fans for their support. On X, he said he’s “forever grateful to the U.K. public for backing @anthonyjoshua — we couldn’t have made this happen without you.”
Even though the exciting fight is set, Hearn isn’t completely happy. A press conference is planned for London on September 30, but Hearn is upset because the press release says Dana White is working with Alalshikh on the fight, which will be shown live on Netflix. Talking to IFL TV, Hearn said: “There’s a lot of sneaky stuff going on — Netflix even put out a release saying ‘the fight will be with Dana White.’ That’s not happening, and there’s more fighting ahead over this.”
He added that he’ll be talking to Netflix about this, saying, “I’ll remind Netflix about their contract and handle it like we handled other problems. These people are making things very hard for themselves. We’re supposed to have a press event next week, but now we’ve got things to fix first.”
Hearn also raised serious questions about whether the press conference will happen as planned, claiming there have been several contract breaks. He said: “There’s still things to sort out. We won’t do a press conference until everything’s right — so far, there have been about six breaches in the contract we signed. We keep giving these guys chances, acting in good faith, but they don’t. We want to make sure all is in order first. I’m going to take care of it.”
Hearn has been firm that he and Joshua won’t change their contract position, and it seems problems remain even though the fight is officially on. Joshua and Fury have been in talks to fight many times before, but the deals fell apart. Things picked up after Fury called out Joshua right after his win over Arslanbek Makhmudov in April. Joshua didn’t accept immediately, telling Fury he’s “the landlord.”
It’s been reported that they’ve agreed to split the money 50-50. Without bonuses or endorsements, the total prize is said to be around £200 million, making this the biggest payday ever for both fighters. The huge fight is expected to start no earlier than 1am, with 80,000 fans ready to watch in Cardiff.