The 38-year-old boxer Tyson Fury and 36-year-old Anthony Joshua look like they are finally getting their act together, given that the pair are expected to meet at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Friday, the 11th of December 2026. Reports suggest that an announcement is due this week, but nothing has been confirmed at the time of writing.
@talksport “Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury is going to be announced this week in Cardiff!” 📝 Spencer Oliver tells Simon Jordan the lowdown on the all British mega fight… Watch talkBOXING EP189 on the talkSPORTBoxing YouTube channel NOW #boxing ♬ original sound – talkSPORT
Netflix is the broadcaster that will show the fight, whilst the Saudi-owned Sela is the organiser, meaning that the projected ring walk will be at around 1am UK time, so that the fight will take place at 8pm on the American east coast. A Madison Square Garden date had come close enough to confirmation for a Manhattan news conference to be planned before Cardiff became the preferred venue.
Joshua’s contract required that the fight be held in the United Kingdom, but Fury’s contained no such restriction. Eddie Hearn admitted in August that everybody else involved wanted America, with Matchroom even exploring what it would cost to waive the clause. While it would be nice to suggest there’s some British loyalty from Joshua, the reality is that this is just about money.
Image: Clint Budd from About 15 miles North of Swansea, Wales, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Who Sets the Hour for a Stadium Fight?
Fury’s own manager, Spencer Brown, said that the final say on what time the fight will get underway sits with Turki Al-Sheikh, Netflix and Sela. It will not surprise boxing fans one iota that the list does not include anybody who will be paying to be in the stadium, nor those buying the package to watch at home.
There is a decent amount of history between Cardiff and boxing, though. Lennox Lewis stopped Frank Bruno in the seventh round at Cardiff Arms Park on the first of October 1993, in the first world heavyweight title fight between two British-born boxers, with the 1am start to that fight having been agreed so that HBO could show it live in American primetime.
The Fight Doesn’t Mean Much
Both men arrive with something to prove. Fury lost twice to Oleksandr Usyk in 2024, whilst Joshua was knocked out in the fifth round by Daniel Dubois at Wembley on the 21st of September in the same year. Since then, Fury has beaten Arslanbek Makhmudov thanks to judges’ scores of 120-108, 120-108 and 119-109 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on the 11th of April, whilst Joshua stopped Jake Paul in the sixth round in the December of 2025.
Of course, neither win came against a fighter of Usyk’s class and there are many who feel that this fight is coming far too late in both boxers’ careers for it to actually mean much of anything.
