By By Habeeb Ibrahim
Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will finally meet in the ring after years of negotiations, speculation and failed attempts to make one of boxing’s biggest heavyweight fights.
The all-British showdown has been confirmed for December 11, 2026, at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
The fight will be streamed globally on Netflix, with the official announcement made on Thursday by Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority. The two fighters are also scheduled to appear at a press conference in London on September 30.
The bout brings together two former heavyweight champions whose careers have been linked for more than a decade, despite never meeting professionally.
Joshua enters the fight with a record of 30 wins and four defeats, while Fury has 36 wins, two defeats and one draw.
Talk of Joshua and Fury fighting dates back to the middle of the 2010s, when both were establishing themselves among Britain’s leading heavyweights.
Joshua became a world champion in 2016 when he stopped Charles Martin in the second round to win the IBF heavyweight title. A year later, he added the WBA and IBO titles after stopping Wladimir Klitschko in an 11-round contest at Wembley Stadium.
He later defeated Joseph Parker in 2018 to add the WBO title and became a unified heavyweight champion.
Fury took a different route to the top, defeating the then-undefeated Wladimir Klitschko on points in Germany in 2015 to become heavyweight champion.
He subsequently spent more than two years away from professional boxing before returning in 2018, eventually leading to his trilogy with Deontay Wilder.
Their first fight ended in a draw in 2018 before Fury stopped Wilder in their 2020 rematch and won their third meeting by knockout in 2021.
During that period, the possibility of an all-British Joshua-Fury fight continued to grow, with the two camps coming close to an agreement in 2021.
The proposed deal eventually collapsed after Wilder activated his contractual right to face Fury again, while Joshua went on to face Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua lost his unified titles to Usyk in 2021 and was defeated again by the Ukrainian in their 2022 rematch.
Fury also faced Usyk twice in 2024, losing both fights by decision. Their first meeting in May saw Usyk become the undisputed heavyweight champion, while the December rematch ended with another victory for the Ukrainian.
Fury returned to the ring in 2026, defeating Arslanbek Makhmudov by unanimous decision in April before stopping Mariusz Wach after seven rounds in July.
Joshua, meanwhile, rebuilt his career with victories over Jermaine Franklin, Robert Helenius and Otto Wallin before stopping former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in the second round in March 2024.
He then suffered a fifth-round stoppage against Daniel Dubois at Wembley in September 2024.
Joshua returned with a sixth-round knockout of Jake Paul in December 2025 before defeating Kristian Prenga in July 2026, taking his record to 30-4 with 27 knockouts.
Despite the years of build-up, Joshua and Fury have never fought professionally.
Both have held world heavyweight titles and faced several of the same opponents, but their careers never produced the long-awaited matchup.
That will change on December 11 when the two former champions finally share a professional boxing ring in Cardiff.
