Eddie Hearn appears to have confirmed that the Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua fight will go ahead on December 11, responding to Fury's claims that the bout was in jeopardy with an X-rated social media post of his own.
After years of negotiations and near-misses, the heavyweight showdown was finally confirmed last Thursday, with the two boxers scheduled to meet under the roof of Cardiff's Principality Stadium. However, the fight was quickly placed into doubt after Ring Magazine's Mike Coppinger reported that it could be called off due to "issues", with a replacement fight being considered between Terence Crawford and Ryan Garcia, or potentially even Fury and David Benavidez.
Dana White involvement sparks dispute
Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix later said that the "issue" in question was the involvement of UFC president and Zuffa Boxing chief Dana White, whom boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh is understood to want involved in the event as a promoter.
Hearn, who has been engaged in a public feud with White for a number of months, has stated that it is written into Joshua's contract that White and Zuffa are not involved in the fight, while Fury has said that he removed the same stipulation from his own deal.
Fury accuses Joshua and Hearn of trying to pull out
This prompted Fury to claim Joshua and Hearn were trying to back out of the fight, stating in an X-rated rant on social media: "Breaking news. Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn are trying to pull out of this fight. They're saying they're not gonna fight now. They're little s*******e cowards.
"It's mainly to do with Eddie Hearn's ego. He's making up a million different things and threatening 'we're not gonna fight, we're not gonna fight, we're not gonna fight'. He's cost us the biggest fight in boxing history. Clown."
Hearn fires back with X-rated post
In a fresh twist on Tuesday morning (September 29), Hearn appeared to fire back at Fury, effectively confirming the fight will take place with an X-rated post of his own: "Chapter 35. Chat s*** get banged. Dec 11."
With the Fury vs Joshua press conference still scheduled for Wednesday, September 30 at 6pm BST at British Airways ARC at the Olympia, it has the potential to be a must-watch event.
