Everything we know about Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury mega-fight
Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship this summer in one of the biggest fights in British boxing history.
The pair have been on a collision course for over a decade, and shared the ring once before in a 2010 sparring session while still in their early 20s.
But this time they'll competing for all the belts in boxing's most illustrious division, with hundreds of millions of pounds on the line as well as the unified title.
Nobody has unified all four of boxing's major heavyweight belts before, with Lennox Lewis the last official 'undisputed' champion at the turn of the millennium.
Excitement is building with fans for the mega-fight, which is set to be the first of two between the British rivals.
Here's all you need to know about Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury…
Date
The fight will take place on August 14. The fight had been slated to take place as early as next month but it quickly became apparent that it would be pushed back.
A three-date shortlist of July 24, July 31 and August 7 was then shifted back a week before the official date was finally confirmed this week.
Venue
The event will take place in either Jeddah or Riyadh, with Eddie Hearn claiming there will be a new stadium built especially for the occasion.
Hearn told Sky Sports: “They want to build another stadium. They’ve got also indoors options but August is about 23 degrees at 11pm, it’s quite warm. But they want to create something very very special.
“You remember last time they built the stadium for the Andy Ruiz fight [in December 2019] in just seven weeks, that held 18,000. And this will be a similar setup.
“They have the opportunity to hold it indoors, but they want to create something that is going to just shock the world here, and they want to if they can try and build another stadium just for this fight.”
Joshua regained his world titles from Andy Ruiz in a rematch in Riyadh in 2019.
Fury has made the walk in Riyadh as well, only to a WWE ring instead of a boxing one as part of the 2019 'Crown Jewel' event where he 'beat' wrestling star Braun Strowman.
Undercard
The undercard will feature seven or eight bouts, according to Hearn, and will feature fighters from a variety of promotions and management stables including Matchroom Boxing, Top Rank, Queensberry and MTK Global.
No bouts have been announced as yet.
TV deal
The event will be simulcast as a pay-per-view on BT Sport Box Office and Sky Sports Box Office in the UK.
The price is expected to be £24.95, but no announcement has been made on that either.
In America, it will be broadcast on ESPN PPV, and elsewhere in the world there will be DAZN live broadcasts.
Prize money
Both fighters have agreed to split the reported $150 million (£106m) 50-50 for this fight.
They have also signed a rematch clause where the winner with earn 60% and the loser 40 from their second fight, which is slated for December.
It is likely that they will both make a substantial amount more than that when pay-per-view sales are factored in.
Who's making the ring walk first?
Eddie Hearn has floated the idea of a joint ring-walk to avoid drama over who is the 'A-side' for the fight.
However, it is more likely to come down to a coin toss, similarly to Dereck Chisora and Joseph Parker's bout on May 1 in Manchester.
The 'A-side' will vary depending on broadcasters, so for Sky and DAZN expect to see the fight billed as Joshua-Fury, while BT Sport and ESPN will refer to it as Fury-Joshua.
What time will it be on in the UK?
The expected ring walk time, based on Joshua’s last fight in Saudi Arabia with Andy Ruiz Jr, is 9 PM. It’s great news for fight fans, particularly those who have been following Fury since his return to the ring in 2018.
Fury has fought his last four on the West Coast of the United States, whereas Joshua has fought in the UK exclusively, except for two bouts with Ruiz in New York on the East Coast of America and Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia is just two hours ahead of the UK, as opposed to the huge differences that in the United States where East Coast states are 5 hours behind while the West Coast is a whopping eight hours.
This time difference means events take place in the early hours of the morning for British fans.
Odds
Tyson Fury is a slight favourite with the bookies for this fight, coming in at a price of 8/15. Joshua is an 11/8 underdog. A draw is priced at 16/1.
A Fury stoppage is priced at 11/5, while a Joshua win inside the distance is 12/5.
A decision win for Fury is 7/4 and Joshua is 13/2 to get the nod from the judges.
These odds will likely change significantly over the next few weeks as the fight draws nearer.
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