- Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua held their launch press conference in London on September 30, and it was friendly rather than fiery
- Fury vs Joshua is set for December 11 at Cardiff's Principality Stadium on Netflix, with tickets going on sale on October 9
- My pick is Fury on points: the size, the awkwardness and Joshua's habit of getting hurt by big heavyweights all point one way
Smiles In London, Fury vs Joshua Is Real
Right then. After years of false starts, Fury vs Joshua got its launch press conference in London on September 30, and the headline from the room was how friendly it all was. No pushing, no shoving, no trading insults across a table. Joshua called it ten years in the making and said it had to happen at some stage. Fury called it the icing on the cake and described Joshua as a role model and poster boy for British boxing for years.
Let's not beat around the bush, that is not how heavyweight fights are usually sold. Only days ago Fury was rating the chances of this fight happening at one per cent, so seeing both men on the same stage with the date and venue locked in is a proper moment. It is on December 11 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, live on Netflix, and tickets go on sale on October 9. We only got the official confirmation on September 25, so this has moved quickly.
Pubs, Banter And The Pint Of Guinness
The best line came from Joshua, who said people in pubs have had proper fights about who wins this one. He is not wrong. This has been the argument in every boozer in Britain for the best part of a decade, and I would argue it has aged like a fine wine and not like milk. Fury, being Fury, joked about being the most awkwardly built heavyweight champion and invited Joshua for a pint of Guinness after the fight. Joshua, to his credit, was having none of it.
If you know, you know: when Fury is this relaxed in public, he is dangerous in the ring. The jokes are the mind games. Joshua knows it too, which is why the polite answer was a smile and a shrug.
The Elephant In The Room
The mood was warm, but the shape of the fight has not changed. Murat Gassiev is still objecting to the WBA creating a Super title for two men who currently hold no belts, and the Netflix money around this event is so big that the sanctioning fee will always win that argument. None of that stops the best two British heavyweights of their generation finally getting in a ring together.
The Prediction
Make no mistake, Fury vs Joshua is not a fight between a young lion and an old master any more. Fury is 38 and has retired more times than most people have changed jobs. Joshua turns 37 in a fortnight. Both have been hurt, and both have been written off. What decides it is the size and the angles. Fury is bigger, longer, harder to hit cleanly and very good at making a man miss and then lean on him. Joshua is levels above what he was in 2019, but he has been stopped by heavy hitters and Daniel Dubois took his IBF title in 2024 to prove it.
I have Fury winning a hard, grinding fight on points, with a very real chance Joshua lands something big in the early rounds and makes it uncomfortable. If Joshua is going to win, it is by getting Fury to fight at his pace in the opening four rounds. Fury has seen that movie before and he knows how it ends. Fury on points, and the pint of Guinness stays unopened.