Fury and Joshua share warmth and jokes at London face-off ahead of Cardiff bout
Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua traded friendly jabs and even talked about sharing a pint together at a London news conference announcing their long-awaited heavyweight fight on 11 December in Cardiff.
After more than ten years of rivalry and several collapsed attempts to make the fight happen, British heavyweights Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua appeared together in London on Wednesday to formally launch their bout, scheduled for Cardiff's Principality Stadium on 11 December.
Despite their long history of tension, the event had a notably warm tone. Fury, 38, praised Joshua as a longtime role model for British boxing and admitted he often found himself defending his rival to members of the public. Joshua, 36, reflected on the scale of the occasion, saying he was grateful for the chance to bring the fight to Britain and noting that fans in pubs had argued fiercely over who would win.
As recently as Monday, it remained unclear whether the fight would go ahead due to contractual disputes over the promotion. Yet the mood on Wednesday was relaxed, with both fighters revisiting their 2010 sparring session, when Joshua was still an amateur. Fury claimed to have had the upper hand, a claim Joshua neither confirmed nor denied.
The pair also traded good-natured taunts — Fury predicted he would knock Joshua down with a big right hand, prompting Joshua to laugh and throw back Fury's own catchphrase, telling him to "get up." Tension briefly flickered when Joshua mentioned being asked whether Fury's name could appear first in promotional materials, but the exchange quickly dissolved into banter.
The bout has been described as being for the vacant WBA 'super' heavyweight title, though current WBA champion Murat Gassiev's team has formally objected to that arrangement. The build-up had also been clouded by controversy over the promotional role of UFC and Zuffa Boxing chief Dana White, who did not attend Wednesday's event.
Fury closed by inviting both Joshua and promoter Eddie Hearn to share a pint of Guinness after the fight regardless of the result, to which Joshua laughingly replied that he wasn't sure he could trust him.
