Fury-Joshua Promoter War: Hearn Calls White 'Completely Cooked' Over Cardiff Super-Fight

CARDIFF — The biggest all-British heavyweight fight in years is official — Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua, December 11, Principality Stadium, live on Netflix — and the two promoters can't even agree on who's promoting it. Dana White insists he is. Eddie Hearn insists it is contractually impossible. With the British Boxing Board of Control's paperwork, Joshua's own ultimatum, and a sit-down in Los Angeles on Wednesday all in play, this is the promoter war that could shape the fight before a single punch is thrown.

WHITE'S CLAIM — White went first, at the UFC 332 post-fight press conference in Salt Lake City on Saturday night. Asked about the Fury-Joshua saga, the UFC CEO said, per MMA Junkie: "We're producing the show. Just like Canelo-Crawford, same thing," White said. "Craig Borsari, Zach, my whole team. We will be producing the show. I'll have my little phone on the table just like tonight and every other show that I produce. I'll be there. I'm producing it. I'm promoting it. I'll see you in Wales." He had already staked his claim at UFC 332's media day, when Hearn's camp described his absence from the AJ-Fury launch press conference as "one of the greatest PR disasters in boxing." White said in response, per Essentially Sports: "Not only am I promoting the fight, but we're producing the fight too. UFC is going to produce the show. I don't know how that's a PR disaster. I'm right."

HEARN'S ANSWER — Hearn's answer came at Matchroom's post-fight press conference in Birmingham on Saturday, and he didn't hold back. "To be honest with you at this point, I think he's completely cooked," Hearn said, per Boxing Wire. "What he actually said was, 'We are doing the TV production,' which again in the contract is prohibited." The Matchroom chief said he took the claims straight to Sela, the Saudi company co-promoting the event: "After that video, I spoke to SELA and I said, 'Have you seen this video?' They said, 'Yes, and it's completely untrue.' He cannot do that under the contract." Hearn told IFL TV that Sela had confirmed it in writing — "absolute bollocks," in his words — and, as Hearn put it, gave White a backhanded compliment for refusing to back down: "I've got to actually admire him because rather than just going, 'Listen, fair play, Hearn's had me by the short and curlies' ... he goes, 'No,' and he just won't give up. So it's like, I've got to respect it and admire it because the front on him is unbelievable."

ON PAPER — The paperwork is on Hearn's side. The British Boxing Board of Control's chief, Robert Smith, confirmed to BoxingScene that the promoters listed on the official fight documentation are Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions, Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing and the Saudi-owned Sela — Zuffa Boxing is not on the paperwork, nor has it even applied to be involved, per talkSPORT. Under Board rules a British license holder must be in place to promote a bout under its auspices, and discussions on Sela's license holder were still ongoing. In short: as things stand, Dana White is not an official promoter of Fury-Joshua, whatever he told the cameras in Salt Lake City.

JOSHUA'S LINE IN THE SAND — The fighter at the center of it has drawn his own line. Joshua told talkSPORT he is willing to step away from the Fury clash if White becomes an official promoter — a remarkable escalation that puts the dispute's stakes in plain terms. Hearn has left the door ajar for a negotiated settlement: he confirmed to BoxingScene he is due to meet with Zuffa Boxing representatives — including White — this Wednesday in Los Angeles, saying "we might work something out," and that Sela wants him in LA for the conversation. There is one wrinkle: White says he has heard of no such meeting. White maintains he will promote the event on behalf of Saudi boxing financier Turki Alalshikh, and Alalshikh and Netflix are reportedly keen to have White involved for promotional value — a real tension between the commercial upside and Joshua's contract.

THE UNDERCARD PICTURE — Saturday's Birmingham card also clarified the light-heavyweight road. Ben Whittaker survived a late storm to beat Conor Wallace by unanimous decision (117-111, 116-112, 115-113), winning the IBF final eliminator to become the mandatory challenger for unified WBA, IBF and WBO champion Dmitry Bivol. Whittaker's trainer Andy Lee revealed after the fight that Whittaker had been sick with COVID in the final week of camp — "This man had COVID last week. He was in bed," Lee said, per talkSPORT — while Whittaker himself chalked the late wobble up to taking his eye off the ball. Either way, Hearn says the mandatory shot isn't coming yet: Bivol is tentatively penciled in against Callum Smith on December 12, Whittaker's shot likely won't come until at least next summer, and he needs another fight first — a Wallace rematch (possibly February or March), the Buatsi-Hutchinson winner, or Yarde. "If he had looked sensational tonight and destroyed Conor Wallace, I think we would've been in a position to say, 'Let's go into Bivol or Callum Smith,'" Hearn said. "For me, no. He needs another fight."

The fight is just over nine weeks away, and the dispute over who actually controls it is nowhere near settled. White's production team, Hearn's contract language, Sela's written denial and Joshua's walk-away threat all point at the same Wednesday meeting in Los Angeles — that is where we'll find out which side bends first. Follow the road to Cardiff with Previously's fight hub and the newsroom.