Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua: Eddie Hearn Insists Fight Stays in the U.K.
Eddie Hearn is digging in. Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua, he insists, is coming home – and no amount of noise from Dana White is going to drag it across the Atlantic.
The Matchroom boss has gone on the offensive after White accused him of stalling the biggest heavyweight fight of this era, branding the situation “the weirdest thing ever” and suggesting Hearn’s camp has blocked negotiations. The flashpoint? Location. Britain or America. Home soil or a U.S. mega-arena.
Hearn’s stance is blunt: the deal is already done. Just stick to it.
“We’ve signed our contract. Just honor the contract that we’ve signed,” he told iFL TV, making it clear he believes there is nothing left to negotiate, only a promise to be kept. From his side, the story is simple. There was an original bout agreement for a U.K. fight. That’s what Joshua wants. That’s what Hearn says they’re fighting for.
White, he claims, has tried to blow that up.
According to Hearn, the UFC boss has attempted to muscle into a fight that isn’t his, leaning on key powerbrokers to rip up the British blueprint and ship the event to the U.S. He alleges White has tried to get Sela to “break their contract, scrap a British fight, and bring it to America,” all while insisting he isn’t causing any problems.
Hearn isn’t buying that for a second, and he’s using Joshua as his proof.
Joshua, he says, has already turned down “many millions more” to box in the States. The former unified heavyweight champion, in Hearn’s telling, has drawn a hard line: this fight belongs to British boxing, not to a bigger cheque.
“He cares where the fight is. He cares about British boxing, and he cares about the contract that he signed,” Hearn said. The implication is clear – Joshua has refused to “dance” for extra money, refused to be what Hearn calls a “sellout.”
While the politics rage, the fighters have done their bit to keep the fantasy alive. Fury recently came through Mariusz Wach. Joshua handled Kristian Prenga. Ring Magazine has already circled the end of 2026 for their collision, but as of now there is no official date, no confirmed venue, and an increasingly public tug-of-war over where the first bell will ring.
Hearn is adamant the holdup is not coming from his side of the table. He says the offers to move the fight to the U.S. have been real, the money substantial, and the answer from Joshua unwavering.
“Forget Eddie Hearn. What do I want? I want this fight in Britain,” he recalls Joshua telling him when the rival proposals were laid out. Hearn even points out the obvious: if Joshua took the bigger purse, Hearn’s own cut would rise with it. For a promoter routinely painted as obsessed with revenue, he’s leaning heavily into the idea that this is about something else.
His response to accusations of “fake patriotism” is sharp: if he’s supposedly “mad about money,” why is he pushing the lower-paying option?
What has stiffened that resolve, he says, is the reaction from fans. Hearn credits the groundswell on social media – on his channels and Joshua’s – with hardening their stance. British supporters have flooded timelines demanding the fight be staged in the U.K., and Hearn admits the noise has had a real effect.
“It makes you fight that little bit harder,” he said. Joshua, watching the same reaction, chose the original contract over the bigger American offer. No addendum. No detour. U.K. or nothing.
That decision, Hearn claims, sent shockwaves through those trying to drag the event to the U.S. “They threw their toys out the pram,” he said of unnamed figures behind the American push, stunned that Joshua would walk away from extra millions to stay on home turf.
Hearn is clear about one more thing: Joshua, not the promoter, calls the final shot.
“A.J. makes the decisions,” he said. The narrative that Hearn is blocking Dana White for the sake of a personal rivalry is one he dismisses outright. The fighter, he insists, has chosen country over cash. “People say, ‘A.J. turned down more money to do it in the U.S. because he wanted to do it in the U.K.’ Yes. I’m not going to lie to you, that’s exactly what happened.”
Behind the scenes, the machinery continues to move. Hearn says he has been in “constant communication” with Netflix and Sela over the past week, describing the situation not as a negotiation – the contract is already signed, he stresses – but as discussions aimed at executing that original agreement. The key voice now is Turki Alalshikh, who will make the official call on dates and venues.
Hearn believes that call is close. He’s hopeful that within days there could be an announcement confirming a U.K. fight, and he’s already picturing the response. He talks about “unbelievable celebrations” from British fans and even half-jokes that Joshua “should be knighted in the process” for standing firm.
The big stadium question still hangs in the air. Principality Stadium in Cardiff has emerged as a serious contender, with Hearn openly admitting it is his personal preference. The closed roof, the atmosphere, the weather-proof guarantee – it ticks plenty of boxes. Yet Wembley Stadium, with its global profile and sheer scale, remains the obvious lure if the aim is to project this as the grandest British sporting spectacle of the modern era.
Hearn knows what he wants. He also knows whose orders he is following.
“The reason that I’m doing this is because I want the fight in the U.K., but my instructions from Anthony Joshua are make sure this fight is in the U.K.,” he said. That directive, he insists, is non-negotiable.
He also believes those holding the real power are starting to feel the pull of the British public. Turki Alalshikh, he says, has seen the online reaction and is “probably excited” by the idea of delivering the fight to the U.K. The message from Hearn is that the tide is turning, not because he has outmaneuvered anyone, but because fan sentiment has become impossible to ignore.
He doesn’t hide who has been pushing hardest for the American option. Dana White and Nick Khan, he says, have “tried desperately” to take the fight to the U.S., and White “does not want this fight in the U.K.” That, in Hearn’s view, has been the central problem all along.
Yet he believes resolve has finally won out. “We’ve stayed firm against everybody,” he said, arguing that the sheer scale of what this event could become on British soil is now obvious to all parties. If they get it over the line, he predicts a reaction like nothing the country has seen.
“It could be the biggest sporting event ever in the U.K. We know it’s the biggest fight ever.”
The contracts are signed. The fighters are ready. The money is on the table. The only question left is whether the most anticipated all-British heavyweight showdown of the century rings in under the lights of Cardiff or Wembley – and whether Joshua’s refusal to chase the extra millions in America becomes the defining choice of his career.
