Joshua

Tickets for Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua’s fight at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium have sold out in just one hour.

Fury and Joshua will meet on a bill that begins on 11 December but they are not expected to fight until the early hours of 12 December.

The highest-priced tickets were available at £13,128, including booking fees, with the lowest at £88.50.

The all-British heavyweight contest, which will be broadcast globally on Netflix, was announced in September and around 80,000 tickets went on sale at 12:00 BST on Friday.

Just minutes after the tickets went on sale more than 500,000 people were waiting in the online queue.

Tickets quickly began emerging on resale websites, with ringside VIP seats being advertised for £73,645, while upper tier seats were available for £425.

Ringwalks are expected to start around 01:00 GMT on Saturday 12 December, following a short live music performance, and the stadium will remain open until 03:30.

The event is being promoted as a collaboration between Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh’s The Ring and UFC chief Dana White.

Organisers are yet to confirm any of the undercard fights.

When Tyson Fury was asked whether his fight against Anthony Joshua had come too late for both boxers, the Gypsy King responded: “Is it too late?… It’s the icing on the cake of two great careers.”

Former heavyweight world champions Fury and ⁠⁠Joshua came face to face ⁠⁠in London on Wednesday to allay months-long fears and rumours surrounding their long-awaited fight, which has been confirmed for December 11 in Cardiff.

The British boxing stars are 38 and 36 years old, respectively, and have kept the boxing world waiting for years.

For many fans, why it took so long to agree on a fight is almost as big a question as who will win.

Neither boxer wanted to take the hit for delaying the biggest fight in British boxing history when they appeared in front of the media in London. Fury blamed Joshua, despite reports stating Joshua insisted the fight take place in the United Kingdom for the sake of home fans.

“You’ve been crying behind the scenes to get out of this fight,” Fury said. “I’ve checkmated you. You have to fight. I’ve said I’ll fight anywhere.”

But is the Gypsy King right? Can Fury vs Joshua live up to more than 10 years of hype?

Al Jazeera Sport breaks it down:

Ten years of near misses

Joshua and Fury are prizefighters who decide their destiny in the ring, but outside of it, their promoters negotiate contracts, choose venues and make calls on top billing.

The history goes back 10 years and is full of near misses, contractual problems and other fighters entering the fray.

It all started in 2020, when the two camps agreed to a two-fight deal. A year later, contracts were signed for an undisputed heavyweight showdown. However, Deontay Wilder, an American former world heavyweight champion, won an arbitration case that forced Fury into a trilogy fight in 2021.

In 2022, Joshua reportedly accepted a 60-40 purse split in Fury’s favour, but that deal collapsed too. During this period, unbeaten Ukrainian heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk defeated Joshua twice and proceeded to beat Fury twice as well.

All this while, Fury vs Joshua failed to materialise.

Eddie Hearn vs Dana White

Online streaming platform Netflix, which holds global rights to the fight, has billed it as a collaboration between Saudi sports powerbroker Turki Alshikh’s The Ring magazine and Dana White, the owner of mixed martial arts promotion UFC.

Neither Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, nor Fury’s, Frank Warren, was named when talks of the fight resurfaced earlier this year.

Alshikh and White cofounded a boxing promotion, Zuffa Boxing, which was launched earlier this year and became a point of contention in the Joshua-Fury fight. Hearn was of the view that Joshua’s contract barred White and Zuffa’s parent company from any promotional role.

“Dana White cannot be involved with this fight promotion,” Hearn said recently.

However, Fury saw it differently and blamed Hearn for costing “the biggest fight in boxing history” in an Instagram post.

White was not seen at the London news conference, where fans booed his name.

A battle of egos

In boxing, the name that comes first on the poster usually signals the A-side, or the bigger fighter.

Joshua claimed he got a call asking whether he minded Fury’s name going first, because Fury was “unwilling to sign unless he does”.

Fury boasted: “I’m number one.”

There was also the issue of the fight venue and, specifically, the host country.

Joshua insisted he ensured it would happen in the UK, whereas White had pushed for it to be held at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“I know we are going to inspire this generation, and I know for a fact we are going to inspire the next generation,” Joshua said.

The niceties didn’t last long between the opponents as Fury claimed he would knock Joshua out.

“I’m going to catch him and, when I do, it’s going to be curtains,” Fury said.

Joshua welcomed the outburst and said: “This is the energy that we want.”

In the end, money got the deal over the line.

Reports in UK media say the fighters will share a $200m purse and will bag more than “any British fighter has earned in a fight ever”.

Netflix and Saudi powerbroker Turki Alalshikh’s fight announcement was striking for who it included – and who it did not. The event was presented as a collaboration involving Alalshikh’s The Ring and White.

There was no mention of Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, who has promoted Joshua throughout his professional career, or Queensberry’s Frank Warren, Fury’s long-time promoter.

White’s involvement was not entirely unexpected.

The Zuffa Boxing promoter has been saying for weeks he would be involved in Fury-Joshua.

Hearn has been equally adamant he would not. After Thursday’s announcement, Hearn said Joshua’s contract specifically prevented White and American sports entertainment company TKO from having a promotional role, claiming Netflix had not been made aware of that provision.

Hearn said there had been breaches of the agreement which needed to be resolved and cast doubt on whether Wednesday’s news conference would go ahead.

Fury says a similar restriction originally appeared in his own contract but was removed because he wanted White involved.

Warren has taken a more pragmatic position. Speaking to BBC Sport before the latest dispute escalated, he said his understanding was White had helped secure the Netflix deal and compromises had been necessary to get the fight made.

On Saturday, White was generally non-committal on the future of the contest but much clearer in his criticism of Hearn. “The guy who is supposed to be helping the fight has been hurting the fight,” White said. “He hasn’t done the fight any favours.”

Speaking to BBC Sport after the fight was announced, Fury’s promoter Frank Warren repeatedly returned to one word: compromise.

“Everybody’s got to make a compromise,” the Queensberry boss said. “Tyson really compromised. He didn’t dig his heels in.

“He said, ‘Fine, wherever they want it, I’ll do it. If they want me to go to New York, I’ll go. They want it in the UK, I just want to get the fight on.”

The fighters had already agreed to the contest but the venue was a sticking point.

Warren says Netflix wanted New York, while Joshua, 36, was determined to fight in Britain. Predictably, their camps disagree over who finally got it done.

Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn described the push to keep the fight in Britain as a “two-man crusade”.

“AJ has turned down money to keep it in the UK,” Hearn told the Matchroom YouTube channel. “I wouldn’t be able to look people in the eye if I was part of the movement to take this to the US.”

Hearn says Joshua had specifically requested protection for a UK fight in his contract and refused to relent.

“We were under so much pressure to fold,” he added. “It was only really the support of the British public that made Joshua stand 10 toes down and say no.”

Warren sees it differently.

He says Fury, 38, could have insisted on his own contractual position but instead accepted Britain to ensure the fight did not collapse.

Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will contest their long-awaited all-British heavyweight fight at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on 11 December.

The bout, more than a decade in the making, will be broadcast globally on Netflix.

BBC Sport understands the main event could take place in the early hours of Saturday morning in the UK, with organisers considering a late start to cater for audiences in the United States.

Joshua and Fury will come face-to-face at a news conference in London on Wednesday, 30 September, as the build-up begins to one of the most anticipated fights in British boxing history.

“I am inspiring a generation,” Joshua, 36, posted on Instagram. Fury is yet to comment on the announcement.

The event is being promoted as a collaboration between Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh’s The Ring and UFC chief Dana White.

“Two of the best heavyweights of this generation, finally in the ring together,” Alalshikh said.

“This will be one of the biggest fights in boxing history. I am very happy to make this fight happen for the fans.”

The former two-time world champions had already signed contracts for the bout earlier this year, but the date and venue had yet to be confirmed.

London’s Wembley Stadium and New York’s Madison Square Garden were the frontrunners to stage the fight, but both presented issues before Cardiff recently emerged as an alternative.

The Principality Stadium has hosted late-night boxing before, including Joe Calzaghe’s fight with Mikkel Kessler in November 2007, which began at 01:00 GMT.

Welsh Rugby Union and Cardiff Council officials welcomed the fight, saying it would reinforce the city’s reputation for staging major events and could bring a significant economic boost, although some operational details still need to be finalised.

Joshua had been pushing for the fight to take place in the UK and has got his wish.

“Forever indebted to the UK public for their support of Anthony Joshua. We couldn’t have got this over the line without you,” his promoter Eddie Hearn said.

It is notable that White, who fronts Zuffa Boxing, is involved in the promotion.

“For more than a decade, boxing fans have been clamouring for the heavyweight showdown between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Together, they bring 66 wins, 52 knockouts and multiple heavyweight world titles into the ring,” White said.

“On December 11, two of the biggest heavyweights of this generation finally collide – and the winner will take a significant place in heavyweight history.”

There was no official statement from Hearn or Fury’s promoter Frank Warren in the official news release sent by Netflix. Hearn had previously said he did not want White to be involved in promoting the fight.

The fight had initially been discussed for November but, with negotiations over the venue dragging on, it now looks set for December.

Staging an open-air stadium fight in the UK at that time carries immense risk.

While Wembley offers unmatched prestige, exposing tens of thousands of fans and a massive international broadcast operation to potentially freezing temperatures, wind and rain was deemed unacceptable.

Moving the event indoors to an arena like London’s O2 would eliminate weather risks, but at the cost of sacrificing tens of thousands of ticket sales.

The Principality Stadium’s retractable roof allows organisers to capture the immense scale, atmosphere and gate revenue of a stadium show while offering full protection from the elements.

The venue’s official seated capacity is just under 74,000, but boxing configurations allow for even larger crowds.

Joshua has already proven he can sell out the venue, having defended his WBA and IBF titles there against Carlos Takam in front of nearly 80,000 fans in 2017 before adding the WBO belt against Joseph Parker five months later.

Alexandre Pantoja did not tap Joshua Van’s glove before the fight began. Nine months after an injury ended his reign as flyweight champion in just 26 seconds, the Brazilian returned to the Octagon to try to reclaim the belt that slipped away.

This time, no injury clouded the result. Pantoja came out determined to impose his style from the opening seconds, but Van found a way to keep him at a distance, counter with his boxing and survive the former champion’s take-down attempts.

After five rounds, the judges awarded the fight to the Van by unanimous decision, with scores of 49-46, 49-47 and 50-45.

Van retained the 125-pound title in the main event of UFC 331, held Saturday at Crypto.com Arena in front of a sold-out crowd of 19,357 fans. UFC CEO Dana White said the event generated $8.3 million in box office revenue, the highest in the arena’s history.

The result also vindicated Van’s claim to the championship.

In December 2025, Pantoja threw a high kick that Van caught. The Brazilian lost his balance and braced his left arm on the canvas to break his fall, but his elbow dislocated. The fight ended after 26 seconds and Van was awarded the belt.

Joshua Van punches Alexandre Pantoja during their UFC 331 flyweight championship bout at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.

(Luke Hales / Getty Images)

Both fighters had much to gain during their return to the Octagon.

The animosity that had built up was evident from the start. As the fight began, Pantoja went straight for Van. The Brazilian scored an early takedown and sought to keep the champion on the mat, attempting to turn the fight into a grappling and ground-and-pound battle.

Van resisted and managed to get back to his feet. The lack of action during some early stretches prompted the first boos from the crowd.

But the pace changed.

Van began to find openings with his hands and Pantoja had to absorb strikes while continuing to seek takedowns. The champion also showed better defense against the Brazilian’s advances as the rounds progressed.

In the second round, the fight had to be briefly stopped after Pantoja claimed a headbutt. The strike was reviewed and determined to have been accidental, so the fight continued.

“I don’t even know why he was getting worked up. He came at me throwing punches, and I was just trying to counter, and he simply hit me in the head,” Van said. “I guess … I have a tougher head. So then he started complaining and all that. He was saying, ‘You headbutted me, you’re cheating.’ And I told him, ‘You hit me!’ So… um … that was it.”

Van began to take greater control of the fight during the second and third rounds. His boxing allowed him to keep Pantoja at a distance and respond when the Brazilian tried to close in to take him down. Pantoja kept pressing, but he could no longer control the fight on the ground for extended periods.

The fourth round allowed the former champion to regain some of the control he’d lost. Pantoja managed to take Van down to the canvas again and worked from the top for much of the round, showing that he could still trouble the champion when he managed to impose his style.

Van, however, ended the fight on a high note.

“I knew I hurt him — you know, I knew I hurt him,” Van said. “He’s a mental giant, you know. He just didn’t want to go down. He doesn’t want to show that he’s hurt, but I know deep down he was hurt. But like I said, man, that’s why I respect him so much.”

In the fifth round, the champion landed a powerful right-hand punch that knocked Pantoja down. The Brazilian managed to recover and continue until the end, but the blow ultimately tipped the fight in Van’s favor.

Alexandre Pantoja tries to pin Joshua Van on the ground during their UFC 331 flyweight championship bout at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.

(Luke Hales / Getty Images)

Ahead of the bout, Van defended his title in May against Tatsuro Taira, winning by technical knockout in the fifth round. Pantoja, on the other hand, hadn’t competed since his elbow injury against Van.

“There’s nothing to prove, man,” Van said. “Like I said, I knew I was going to win the first fight, too. So it’s like: ‘OK, do you guys want to see me win again?’”

Before the fight, tensions between the two had escalated. Van had insisted that his first victory wasn’t solely due to Pantoja’s injury, while the Brazilian argued that the December result didn’t show who was truly the better fighter.

The answer, this time, came after 25 minutes.

Tsarukyan knocks out Ruffy

Arman Tsarukyan celebrates after earning a knockout win over Mauricio Ruffy during his UFC 331 lightweight bout at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.

(Luke Hales / Getty Images)

The co-main event of the night also ended sooner than expected.

Arman Tsarukyan and Mauricio Ruffy arrived at Crypto.com Arena with a five-round bout scheduled and key positions in the lightweight division on the line. Ruffy accepted the fight with just four weeks of preparation after Charles Oliveira was pulled from the card.

Ruffy came out ready to trade blows and showed speed in the opening minutes. Tsarukyan, as he had done for much of his career, sought to use his wrestling skills to change the pace of the fight.

Tsarukyan managed to drive Ruffy against the cage and began landing elbows. At the 4:56 mark of the first round, Tsarukyan landed two elbows that knocked Ruffy out and forced the referee to stop the fight.

“I came to Los Angeles to enjoy the city,” Tsarukyan said. “But I also came to win. I owe those elbows to one of my coaches who taught me how to use them.”

Joshua Van retained his flyweight title with a commanding win over Alexandre Pantoja in their rematch at UFC 331 in Los Angeles.

The 24-year-old from Myanmar beat Brazilian Pantoja in December 2025 after Pantoja suffered an accidental elbow dislocation 26 seconds into the fight.

Van, the first UFC champion born in the 2000s, defended the belt against Tatsuro Taira in May but can now claim to be the best in the division after soundly beating 36-year-old Pantoja again.

“A lot of people said that was an accidental win, well, doubt me now,” Van said after extending his professional MMA record to 18 wins and two losses.

Pantoja took Van down in the first round, before landing heavy punches and knees in a fiery exchange, as Van retaliated with a slicing elbow.

Van, who moved to the United States when he was 12, then peppered Pantoja with left-handed jabs in the second round, and rocked the Brazilian with a fluid combination of punches in the third.

Pantoja controlled the fourth round as he took Van down but was unable to submit him.

In the final round, Van stalked Pantoja and knocked him down with an overhand right, securing the win in the judges’ scorecards.

Scottish fighter Casey O’Neill also won on the night, beating Eduarda Moura with an armbar submission.

Alexandre Pantoja and Joshua Van hope their fight Saturday at Crypto.com Arena will last longer than 26 seconds.

It has been nine months since their first bout, which ended in less than a minute because of a Pantoja injury and made Van the UFC flyweight champion. Pantoja aims to reclaim the belt he lost at UFC 331, with the main event beginning at 6 p.m. and streaming on Paramount+.

Pantoja dislocated his elbow when he fell while trying to defend against one of Van’s moves on Dec. 6 at UFC 323 in Las Vegas. The fight ended immediately.

Van celebrated winning the 125-pound title, but both fighters walked away from that night feeling everyone deserved more than the premature result.

Alexandre Pantoja holds his arm after losing his flyweight title fight on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas.

(Ian Maule / Getty Images)

Pantoja, of Brazil, has not competed since that night. He has spent most of the past nine months recovering from the injury, while Van successfully defended his title once against Tatsuro Taira in May, winning by stoppage in the final round.

“It’s been [nine] long months,” Pantoja said. “I’ve been working hard. And at a certain point, I think that after two years as champion, five title fights — almost six title fights — at a certain point it’s good to take some time off, enjoy my family, enjoy myself. But at the same time, I’m really hungry to win again.”

Pantoja said he returned to the gym two days after that first fight. Although the injury kept him out of the octagon, he didn’t want to stay away from training for too long because he said that would have made it harder to get back to fighting at the championship level.

During his time out of the octagon, he observed how the division changed.

“I see a lot of good fights. We’re seeing the top 10 change almost completely,” Pantoja said Wednesday. “I see incredible fights in the flyweight division. And I think this Saturday, with my fight against Joshua Van in the main event here in Los Angeles, is very special.”

Van, meanwhile, enters the rematch coming off a five-round championship bout.

“I’ve been working on my ground game, and you’ll see it,” said Van, who holds dual American and Myanmar citizenship. “I tried it in the fight against Taira, but I didn’t quite pull it off. But this time, you’ll see a different level from Joshua Van.”

The champion’s confidence remains undiminished, as he sees the rematch as an opportunity to put any debate surrounding that first fight in 2025 to rest and prove his place in the division.

“When I beat him, I’ll be one of the greats in this division, and then the next challenger will come and try to take the belt from me,” Van said.

Pantoja said Van has changed since December, highlighting the fight against Taira and noting the champion has refined aspects of his fighting style.

Joshua Van celebrates after defeating Alexandre Pantoja in a flyweight title bout during UFC 323 on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas.

(Ian Maule / Getty Images)

“I think Van definitely evolved a lot after our fight,” Pantoja said. “He had the fight against Tatsuro Taira; I think he evolved and corrected some mistakes he made in that fight. So I think it’s going to be completely different.”

Pantoja doesn’t consider himself the same fighter who will face Van.

“The drive is always the same,” Pantoja said. “I’ve had the same drive since I was a kid — I’ve always wanted to fight the best fighters in the world. The drive is the same; it’s just that I think I’m much more mature now.”

Pantoja said Van is a top-tier fighter, but he believes the injury prevented both of them from showing everything they were capable of.

“He’s an incredible fighter,” said Pantoja, 36. “When you watch Joshua Van fight, his expression never changes — he always tries to stay in control. And that proves just how good you are.”

Although Pantoja officially lost that night, the injury changed the course of the fight before it could truly get underway.

“I injured my arm. I know that, as an athlete, I lost that fight, and now I have the opportunity to fight world champion Joshua Van — and that’s what I want. I want him at his best because I’m at my best too,” Pantoja said.

Tensions have escalated since their first encounter.

At a news conference in August in Los Angeles, the fighters got into an exchange that forced UFC president Dana White to intervene. Pantoja stood up from his seat after Van interrupted him, but the situation did not escalate into a physical confrontation.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m his dad,” Van said. “He was being respectful before the fight, and I don’t know what he’s doing in interviews and stuff like that to make me look like the bad guy.”

Pantoja offered a different explanation.

“He does a very good job,” Pantoja said. “He needed a lesson. When I stood up, I tried to teach him a lesson. I’m from the ‘90s. Back then, if you didn’t respect your mother or father, you’d get a slap.”

Despite the disagreement, both have shown respect for their opponent’s skills. Van described Pantoja as a “very, very dangerous” fighter.

“He’s going to be motivated, he’s going to be hungrier, and I think this will be the best Pantoja we’ll see,” Van said. “So I’m very well prepared for this fight.”

Pantoja, for his part, knows he’s facing a champion who’s already had the chance to prove he can go the distance for five rounds. The Brazilian also viewed Van’s fight against Taira as a source of insight for his preparation.

“An incredible fight, very good,” Pantoja said of his 24-year-old opponent. “I think it’s a good fight for all the fans. It showed me something, but I know Joshua Van is very young and can fix a lot of things from that fight.”

For the Brazilian, the goal this weekend is clear.

“At the end of the day, what matters is the victory,” said Pantoja. “However it plays out — whether it’s by decision, split decision, KO or submission — I think the closer we get to the fight, the less those things matter. The closer we get to the fight, the championship doesn’t matter anymore, the money doesn’t matter — all that really matters is the win.”

Van doesn’t expect to let the fight go to the scorecards.

“I don’t think it’ll go five rounds; I’ll finish it within the first three rounds,” he said confidently. “It’ll be by knockout or submission, but I’m leaning more toward a knockout.”

If Pantoja regains the championship, he would become only the third flyweight champion in UFC history to reclaim the belt after losing it, joining Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno.

For the Brazilian, returning to Los Angeles also holds personal significance. He recalled that it was the first city he visited when he arrived in the United States in 2014 and that, back then, he slept in a gym.

Now he’ll return as a title challenger in the main event of UFC 331.

“It’s so nice that people see where I started here and see how far I’ve come,” Pantoja recalled. “For me, the best part is being the same guy I was when I arrived here in 2014; I’m the same guy right now, and I’m very happy and proud of myself.”