Tickets for Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua are on sale now. Turki Alalshikh announced it on X right as the window opened at noon UK time (8 a.m. ET) on Friday, with a post that read “FURY VS AJ TICKETS ON SALE NOW‼️” and a link to buy.
The fight is set for Dec. 11 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, and it streams live only on Netflix. The Ring Magazine is tagged on every piece of promo Alalshikh has put out, and he’s billing the night as the “UK’s most anticipated fight.” That’s a big claim for a country that has watched a lot of big heavyweight nights, though this is the pairing British fans have been arguing about in pubs for years.
Alalshikh ran the countdown like a man launching a sneaker drop. Wednesday’s post said two days to go. Thursday’s said “ONE DAY TO GO” and listed the sale time in UK, Saudi and Eastern time. By then Yahoo Sports and Yardbarker had both published guides on how to buy seats, so the hype machine was humming before a single ticket moved.
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The money fight behind the fight
The more interesting story this week came from Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s longtime promoter. Hearn claimed TKO offered Joshua somewhere around $10 million to let the company promote Fury-Joshua, according to a clip Ariel Helwani posted on X Tuesday.
Hearn’s version is that TKO wanted its name attached to the biggest fight in boxing so it could point to it as proof for Zuffa Boxing. “They need to be there front and center of AJ-Fury in a fight they have nothing to do with,” Hearn said. He added that the proposal also involved moving the fight to America and having Joshua appear at some WWE events.
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He also described how the pitch arrived. “This was someone who came round the back and approached a member of AJ’s team with a very clear written proposal,” Hearn said.
Obviously, it didn’t happen. The fight is in Cardiff, not Las Vegas, and nobody is asking AJ to cut a promo in a wrestling ring. Hearn didn’t sound bothered either way. MMA Fighting’s Morning Report flagged a separate story in which Hearn said he doesn’t care if TKO produces Fury-Joshua and trashed Zuffa Boxing’s start as abysmal. That’s the sound of a promoter who won the room and wants everybody to know it. Remember, Hearn is the only source on the $10 million figure, and TKO hasn’t been quoted in any of this.
On the training side, Argentine broadcaster Gaston Reyno, known as Tonga, posted video this week of Panamanian legend Manos de Piedra Durán teaching Joshua body shots. If AJ walks out in Cardiff digging hooks to Fury’s ribs, you’ll know where it came from.
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My take: I’ve got no patience for countdowns made of emoji, but I’ll forgive Alalshikh this one because the product is two huge heavyweights in a 70,000-seat-style stadium, under a roof, in December, in Wales. The TKO subplot is the best kind of boxing gossip, a reported eight-figure offer that came in through the back door and didn’t land. Fury and Joshua have kept fans waiting long enough. The tickets are live, the date is Dec. 11, and the only thing left is for two very large men to actually show up.
