Eddie Hearn: Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua venue open, Dana White locked out

Tyson Fury's contract to fight Anthony Joshua does not require the heavyweight blockbuster to take place in the U.K., according to a BoxingScene report Friday, but Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn says both fighters' deals explicitly prohibit Dana White and Zuffa Boxing from touching the event.

Hearn confirmed that while Fury's agreement with Saudi financier Turki Alalshikh leaves the venue unspecified, Joshua's contract stipulates the bout must happen in the U.K. That discrepancy could trigger new negotiations if Alalshikh pushes for an NFL stadium in Las Vegas or Los Angeles, venues boxing officials told BoxingScene have been floated. "If Turki Alalshikh wants to hold the fight in another country, that's not necessarily a problem, but contractually he cannot do that," Hearn said at a public weigh-in Friday. "So we'd have to go through a new process, start a new negotiation."

Zuffa Boxing barred from promotional involvement

White claimed last week he would promote Joshua-Fury and hinted the fight might leave Britain, but Hearn maintains the signed contracts name him and Frank Warren as promoters of record and explicitly bar Zuffa. "Specifically in the contract it says Dana White, Zuffa cannot have any promotional involvement in the show," Hearn said. "Dana doesn't know about the contract for the show that we signed and negotiated." Hearn added that Alalshikh owns 60 percent of Zuffa but is not free to override the exclusion clause.

The comments follow a week of legal turbulence for Zuffa. Oscar De La Hoya issued a cease-and-desist letter blocking the promotion from negotiating with Ryan Garcia for a proposed September defense against Conor Benn, while DAZN reportedly sent its own letter warning Zuffa away from Garcia, a contracted DAZN fighter. "I've never seen so many legal cases against a promoter in such a short time," Hearn told BoxingScene. "These guys are incredibly arrogant. They think they can just breeze in and do whatever they want. This is not the UFC."

Hearn said White's prediction of a Zuffa takeover of boxing ignores the sport's contractual architecture. "Boxing's just different. People don't just back down from situations where they have a legal right," he said. If Garcia-Benn happens, Hearn predicted White would walk away rather than co-promote with De La Hoya. Both Fury and Joshua are scheduled for August tune-ups before their expected late 2025 showdown.

Source: boxingscene.com