Tyson Fury has openly suggested that the odds of his much‑talked‑about showdown with Anthony Joshua are roughly one per cent. After months of drawn‑out negotiations, a tentative agreement was finally announced on a Thursday, indicating that the all‑British heavyweight clash would be staged at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Friday, 11 December. This development was hailed as the culmination of what many have called the biggest fight in the history of British boxing.
Nevertheless, just two days later, Fury cast fresh doubt on the deal. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Furocity, he asserted that Joshua seemed reluctant to honour the arrangement and offered his own stark assessment of the probability that the bout would actually happen. When asked to assign a percentage to the likelihood of the fight proceeding, Fury answered bluntly: “One per cent.” He explained that when one fighter is eager and the other appears to be pulling back, it becomes incredibly difficult to bring the two together.
“If you’ve got a guy that wants to fight, yeah, and you’ve got a guy that doesn’t want to fight, then how are you going to make that fight happen?” he asked. Fury reflected on his own lengthy career, noting that he has stepped into the ring for nearly forty professional contests and has been a dominant figure in the sport for more than a decade. He recounted how he has faced a litany of champions and contested for every major title on the boxing calendar.
Yet, every time the prospect of a bout with Joshua has surfaced, it has fizzled out. “I’ve fought all these people before you, all these champions, for all these titles that there is in boxing, but, yeah, every time it comes to fighting [Joshua]… it never happens,” he said, adding a rhetorical question: “Has anyone ever asked themselves why?” The official announcement for the long‑awaited Fury‑Joshua clash named Saudi financier Turki Al‑Alshikh’s promotion The Ring and UFC boss Dana White as co‑organisers.
However, Eddie Hearn, who handles Joshua’s promotional duties, publicly disputed the involvement of an American promoter, insisting that White’s participation was not permissible. After Johnny Fisher’s recent victory at the Copper Box, White weighed in, stating, “I’m involved in the fight.” He went on to criticize Hearn, suggesting that if the latter truly cared about the match, it would have been secured long ago and that Hearn could simply finance the event himself.
“Sell tickets, cut a TV deal and sell the fight,” White said, emphasizing that the logistics should be straightforward if there were genuine commitment. Yet, White’s confidence wavered. He admitted uncertainty about whether the fight will ever materialise, pointing to the person who was supposed to facilitate the deal as a source of continual obstruction.
“The guy who’s supposed to be helping the fight has been hurting the fight the entire time. He hasn’t done the fight any favours, let’s put it that way,” White remarked.
He promised more clarity within the next three or four days, indicating that the situation remained fluid. Fury also revealed that his original plan was to stage the bout in Ireland’s Croke Park, a historic venue that has hosted only two boxing events in its 142‑year existence.
“In the beginning, I signed the contract to do the fight in Ireland, in Croke Park, because that’s where I wanted to do the fight,” he said. He suggested that had he stuck to that original agreement, the current uncertainty might have been avoided. “There’s nothing that I haven’t agreed to, nothing. I’ll even tie concrete blocks to my boots to make this fight happen.
There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do to make this fight happen,” Fury declared, underscoring his determination. Despite his earlier scepticism, Fury concluded the interview on a slightly more optimistic note, acknowledging that the contracts already signed could compel the fight to go ahead.
“I do think it’ll happen. Because from what I’m hearing, they’ve been paid already. So the fight’s got to happen,” he said. He added that the only scenario in which the bout might be cancelled would be if Joshua chose to return the money, a possibility Fury found unlikely.
“Not unless [Joshua] wants to give the dough back, which I can’t see them wanting to do that.” In summary, the heavyweight landscape remains in a state of suspense. While promoters and financiers are scrambling to lock down the logistics, the fighters themselves appear to be at odds over commitment levels. Fury’s one‑percent estimate captures the prevailing uncertainty, yet the binding contracts and substantial financial stakes suggest that the fight could still materialise, perhaps in a different venue than originally planned. Boxing fans worldwide continue to watch closely, hoping that the promised clash between two of Britain’s biggest names will finally come to fruition before the end of the year.