- Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua is officially confirmed for December 11 at Cardiff's Principality Stadium, live worldwide on Netflix
- The vacant WBA "Super" heavyweight title, left open when Oleksandr Usyk vacated his belts earlier this year, will be on the line
- Turki Alalshikh made the announcement alongside Dana White; a joint press conference is set for September 30 in London
Fifteen Years Of Talk Ends With One Press Release
Right then. I have written some version of "Fury vs Joshua could finally happen" more times than I care to admit, and so has every other boxing writer in this country. On Thursday it stopped being a rumour. Turki Alalshikh confirmed what British boxing fans have been waiting the best part of fifteen years for: Tyson Fury fights Anthony Joshua on December 11 at Cardiff's Principality Stadium, streaming worldwide on Netflix.
"I can now confirm that Fury vs Joshua will be coming to the UK, as I promised British boxing fans," Alalshikh said. "The time for talking is over." Dana White, whose Zuffa Boxing outfit has been circling this fight for the best part of a year, called it a collision between "two of the biggest heavyweights of this generation" and said the winner "will take a significant place in heavyweight history."
Notice who was not quoted in that official statement: Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn, the two promoters who have spent a decade and a half failing to make this fight happen between them. Hearn was involved in the background negotiations, by all accounts, but this is very much an Alalshikh and Zuffa production now. Make no mistake, that tells you everything about where the real power in this sport currently sits.
The Vacant WBA Super Title Raises The Stakes
This was not just going to be a domestic grudge match for bragging rights. Word from The Ring's Mike Coppinger, since confirmed more widely, is that the vacant WBA "Super" heavyweight title will be contested on the night. Oleksandr Usyk vacated his remaining belts earlier in 2026, and rather than let the Super title sit idle, the WBA are putting it on Fury vs Joshua. Murat Gassiev holds the separate WBA "Regular" strap, but the Super title is the one with the lineage that matters, and it is now up for grabs in Cardiff.
Proper credit to whoever pushed for that on the promotional side, because a straight 50-50 domestic dust-up would have sold itself anyway. Attaching a genuine world title to it turns a huge event into a legitimate world heavyweight championship fight, and it gives both men something concrete to fight for beyond history and bragging rights.
Why The Venue Mattered So Much
Cardiff was never a guarantee. Joshua's side had reportedly insisted for months that this fight had to happen on British soil, and Fury was known to be entertaining other options, including a trilogy with Usyk, if talks dragged on any longer. The Principality Stadium holds well over 70,000 and has form for exactly this kind of occasion, having staged Joshua's rematch win over Usyk back in 2019. Let's not beat around the bush, this was the only venue that made sense for a fight this size in this country, and it is a relief for British fans that common sense won out over another year of stalling.
What Joshua's Cryptic Post Really Meant
In the hours before the official announcement, Joshua posted something suitably enigmatic: "The quietest ones often pull the strings...Let them shout first, the wisest wait until the final move." Reads a lot clearer now, doesn't it. Fury has never been the quiet one in any negotiation he has been part of, and Joshua letting Alalshikh and White do the talking while he sat back suggests a fighter who has learned from years of watching deals collapse in public. If you know, you know: staying quiet and letting the ink dry first is exactly how you stop a mega-fight falling apart at the final hurdle.
The Verdict
I have picked this fight in my head about a dozen different ways over the years depending on which version of each man turned up. The version we are getting in December, both well into their thirties with plenty of championship rounds behind them, is not the fight either of us would have wanted five years ago. It is still a proper heavyweight occasion, a genuine world title on the line, and two Brits headlining Cardiff on Netflix in front of a stadium crowd. Early money says Fury's jab and boxing IQ carry him to a wide points win, but I would not be shocked either way with two heavyweights carrying that much power. Whatever happens on December 11, British boxing gets the night it has been promised for fifteen years, and it is finally real.