Dana White has admitted he does not know whether the proposed heavyweight bout between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will go ahead as planned amid an escalating dispute over the promotion of the event.
Fury and Joshua are scheduled to meet in Cardiff on December 11, but the long-awaited all-British contest has been thrown into doubt following disagreements involving White and Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn. White, who runs Zuffa Boxing alongside Turki Alalshikh, has been positioned as the main promoter of the event, while Hearn has maintained that Joshua’s agreement prevents White from being involved.
“I don’t know. The guy who is supposed to be helping the fight has been hurting the fight the entire time. He hasn’t done the fight any favours,” said White, according to the Daily Mail. “I don’t know anybody who is more full of s*** than Eddie Hearn.”
Asked whether he would consider stepping aside to ensure the fight goes ahead, White said that decision was not his to make. “That’s not up to me. I’m involved in the f***ing fight,” said White. “Listen, this whole thing’s a sh*tshow right now. We’ll all know a lot more in the next three, four days, see how this thing plays out.”
Fury has also publicly criticised Hearn and Joshua over the dispute, insisting he has agreed to everything required to make the contest happen. “There’s nothing that I haven’t agreed to. Nothing. I’ll even tie concrete blocks to my boots to make this fight happen,” said Fury, per FurociTV and Sherdog. Fury also credited Alalshikh and Netflix with financing the event and argued that Matchroom Boxing is not in a position to dictate its promotional arrangements.
The latest dispute comes just days before Fury and Joshua are expected to appear at a press conference in London on September 30. Fury has suggested that another opponent could be found if Joshua withdraws, subsequently posting a mocked-up fight poster featuring himself and light heavyweight champion David Benavidez. Fury and Joshua have been linked with a bout for much of the past decade but have yet to meet in the ring.
