Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury is finally official with the heavyweights agreeing to meet on Dec. 11 in Cardiff, in the United Kingdom, and no one seems happier with the deal than Matchroom Boxing president Eddie Hearn.
Hearn has been publicly battling with UFC CEO Dana White about the date and location for the highly anticipated fight and it appeared the entire deal might fall apart in recent weeks. But then out of nowhere, a deal got struck and Joshua and Fury are finally scheduled to meet in December in the United Kingdom, which is where Hearn has always said the fight would take place.
“Dana White told everybody he’s promoting the show, he’s bringing the fight to America, he knows where the venue is, obviously we know that didn’t happen,” Hearn told IFL TV on Thursday. “Dana White cannot be involved with this fight. Netflix clearly didn’t get the memo. No one talks to each other. I speak to SELA and Turki [Alalshikh], Dana White is not involved in the fight and Netflix says ‘the fight is in conjunction with Dana White.’
“But as I’ve shown through the U.K. battle that we won, we stand by our contract and he cannot be involved.”
Hearn claims White did everything possible to bring the fight to Madison Square Garden in New York but eventually everybody involved in the fight had to concede that Joshua vs. Fury needed to be in the U.K.
“Basically, they down talked, they gave up, they did everything they could to bring this fight to America,” Hearn said. “When I told them again it ain’t happening, they gave up.”
White hasn’t addressed the fight since the announcement was made on Thursday but Hearn certainly feels like he’s due a victory lap after promising for months that the UFC CEO wouldn’t be involved in the matchup.
Now Hearn is doubling down on that fact while celebrating that Joshua vs. Fury is a done deal for December in the United Kingdom.
“You’ve lost,” Hearn said to White. “You did everything to bring this fight to America and rob the British fight fans of the fight. Give it up, son.”
