Fury-Joshua could be called off as Dana White row threatens December 11 fight

Tyson Fury’s fight with Anthony Joshua could be called off amid a contractual dispute over Dana White’s involvement in the promotion, according to reports.

The heavyweight contest has not been cancelled and remains scheduled for 11 December at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, with Netflix set to carry the event globally. However, The Ring’s Mike Coppinger reported on Friday that Fury-Joshua “could be called off due to issues”, before Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix cited multiple sources in identifying White’s proposed role as the point of contention.

The fight was officially announced on Thursday after lengthy negotiations. Madison Square Garden had been considered as a venue before Joshua and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, pushed for the contest to remain in Britain.

Dispute over White’s involvement

According to Mannix, Turki Alalshikh wants White involved as a promoter, while Joshua and Hearn have contractual language excluding Zuffa Boxing from taking on that role.

The disagreement surfaced immediately after Netflix announced the fight with the statement: “HE Turki Alalshikh’s The Ring and Dana White will collaborate to promote this historic showdown.”

Hearn subsequently said Netflix had not been informed of the contractual restriction. He also claimed Alalshikh had told him White was not involved in promoting the fight and indicated that he would contact the streaming service about its announcement. Hearn had previously insisted that Alalshikh was the event’s promoter.

Fury has since claimed that a similar restriction was initially included in his own agreement, but that he had it removed.

“In Joshua’s contract apparently, it says that TKO and Dana couldn’t be involved,” Fury said. “That was in my [contract] but I took it out. I took it out so he could be involved.”

Fury’s account differed from an earlier statement by his British promoter, Frank Warren, who said in May that an agreement involving Fury prevented Zuffa from promoting the contest.

White told Sky Sports on Friday that his involvement was on Alalshikh’s side rather than with either fighter.

“I am not involved in either side of this thing. I’m involved on the Turki side,” White said. “I’m sitting here promoting the fight right now. Who’s going to stop me?”

Hearn had already alleged that the signed agreement had been breached several times, saying: “So far in the contract that we signed, there has been about six breaches.” He did not specify each alleged violation and also cast doubt on whether the first press conference would go ahead until the outstanding issues had been resolved.

Alalshikh has not directly addressed the contractual disagreement since the latest reports. He instead posted an old photograph of himself alongside White and TKO president Nick Khan, accompanied by a fire emoji.

Fury then accused Joshua and Hearn of attempting to withdraw from the fight, although neither had publicly confirmed such a move.

“Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn are trying to pull out of this fight… They’re saying he is not going to fight now,” Fury said.

Fury blamed what he described as Hearn’s ego, called Joshua a coward and claimed Alalshikh was looking for another opponent willing to face him. “He’s cost us the biggest fight in boxing history,” Fury added.

Joshua and Hearn had not publicly responded to Fury’s latest accusations as of Saturday morning, although their objection to White and Zuffa holding a promotional role had been stated before the fight was formally announced.

Alternative fights discussed

Coppinger reported that several contingency options were being considered in case Fury-Joshua could not be salvaged. Terence Crawford against Ryan Garcia was named as a possible replacement main event, while Fury facing David Benavidez was another possibility. Jai Opetaia against Deontay Wilder was also floated for the co-feature.

No agreements were reported for any of those fights, and Crawford’s response suggested the Garcia proposal had not reached an advanced stage.

After Crawford posted, “Damn what I miss?”, Dan Rafael replied: “You’re fighting Ryan Garcia Dec 11 apparently ”. Crawford answered: “ damn am I? Why I don’t know about this?”

Garcia appeared more receptive, posting a photograph with Alalshikh and writing that he was ready to “run the fade”.

Fury-Joshua remains on the schedule for 11 December, with the first face-to-face press conference planned for this Wednesday, 30 September. Matchroom has warned that it will not participate until the outstanding contractual issues are addressed.