Fury vs Joshua: Date, time, TV, live stream, odds

It was twice oh so close, and for a third time Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua appears to be on the heavyweight boxing roadmap.

We have had false starts before on the road to the fight ALL British fight fans crave, and now the path to a blockbusting domestic showdown is clear.

We came very close to the pair meeting in August 2021, before Deontay Wilder won an arbitration ruling to scupper that plan and force a trilogy fight vs Fury. Then in late 2022 a deal was in the works but they could not get it across the line.

Now things are different – thanks to enormous investment in the sport by Saudi Arabia, its General Entertainment Authority and His Excellency Turki Alalshikh.

The Saudis have ploughed countless millions into their lavish ‘Riyadh Season’, and a Fury vs Joshua megafight appears to be very much in their sights.

Basically, all we need to happen is for Fury to beat Oleksandr Usyk in their rescheduled unification match on May 18, now that Joshua has destroyed Francis Ngannou in their much-hyped showdown.

The Saudis want the winners of those two matches to meet, and that leaves Fury vs Joshua tantalisingly close yet again.

Fury vs Joshua date and fight time

The smart money is for Fury vs Joshua to take place (if Fury overcomes Usyk) to lock horns in late 2024 or early 2025.

Fury vs Joshua TV channel and live stream

As ever in boxing, the broadcast situation is complicated. But there appears to be a pretty clear path to how things would work out. The current situation is as follows:

UK TV

  • Fury reportedly has a first/last/matching deal with TNT Sports (former BT Sport Box Office). All his fights since that 2018 comeback have aired on the network.
  • Joshua has ended his long-running association with Sky Sports to sign a global deal with streaming platform DAZN.

US TV

  • Fury has an exclusive deal with ‘Worldwide Leader’ ESPN, worth a reputed $80million.
  • Joshua has a global deal with DAZN (subscription platform, $19,99 a month in the United States or $149.99 for one year). Costs £7.99 per month in the UK.

The likely scenario here is that we would have had a joint PPV in the UK between TNT Sports and DAZN, and a similar story in the United States with DAZN and ESPN sharing rights.

Fury vs Joshua venue

Sadly, it is HIGHLY unlikely that Fury vs Joshua would happen in the UK. It would almost certainly take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The money available would likely blow a domestic deal out of the water.

Latest odds

A few months ago this was not even close – before he faced Ngannou last October, Fury was a 1/4 favourite to overcome Joshua. With AJ the 3/1 underdog.

Since then, that underwhelming Fury showing vs Ngannou and two hugely impressive Joshua wins, and everything has changed. We are now very very close – effectively pick em territory.

Fury remains favourite, but only by a whisker at 8/11. Joshua is 11/10 with the Draw a 16/1 shot.

Fury vs Joshua tickets

Joshua is a huge box office draw – all 67,000 tickets for his fight with Usyk sold out in a matter of hours.

Fury meanwhile sold out 94,000 tickets for the upcoming Whyte showdown – 85,000 in one day alone.

A Fury vs Joshua fight would do huge business and tickets will sell out in minutes, or maybe seconds…

Fury vs Joshua weights

Fury weighed in at 277lbs (19st 11lbs) for his last fight – a real struggle to outpoint former UFC heavyweight king and professional boxing novice Ngannou.

Joshua meanwhile tipped the scales at 252lbs (18st) for his demolition of Ngannou.

The weighin for any Fury vs Joshua fight in the future would take place the day before the bout.

Fury vs Joshua purses

Fury and Joshua were due to take home the biggest purses of their careers so far from that planned August 2021 meeting in Saudi Arabia. Not so fast…

Their two-fight deal had allowed for a 50-50 revenue split for the first fight, with the winner taking a 60-40 upside for the rematch.

We await the details for any 2024 or 2025 match but one thing is very sure – both men would come out of their fight considerably richer.

Current world heavyweight champions

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk hold all of the major world heavyweight titles right now.

  • Fury is the World Boxing Council (WBC) and lineal heavyweight champion.
  • Usyk meanwhile is the International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Organization (WBO) and Ring magazine champion.

The last undisputed world heavyweight champion was back in November 1999. That was another Briton in Lennox Lewis. He defeated Evander Holyfield on points in Las Vegas.

Fury vs Joshua promoters

Even outside the ring there is an all-star cast for Fury vs Joshua.

Fury is co-promoted by two Hall of Famers. The Top Rank supremo Bob Arum in the United States. And Queensberry Promotions head Frank Warren in the UK.

Joshua meawhile is promoted by Matchroom Boxing and Eddie Hearn. Hearn is a bigger media star than most fighters in the UK, in particular via his social media feeds. The parody ‘No Context Hearn’ Twitter account, which clips some of his best one-liners as short videos, has more than 350,000 followers. Like Hearn himself, it has become a cult thing.

Tyson Fury record and profile

Tyson Luke Fury, now 35 years old. was born in Wythenshawe in Manchester on August 12, 1988. Then a premature baby and weighing just one pound at birth, he is now a huge physical specimen. He is 6ft 9ins tall with a reach of 85ins. He lives in the seaside town of Morecambe in Lancashire.

Fury has a record of 34-0-1 with 24 wins inside distance. His only draw was that first meeting with Wilder in Los Angeles in December 2018.

Tyson (named after Mike Tyson) had his pro debut in December 2008. He disposed of Bela Gyongyosi with ease, and the rest is history.

There are two distinct chapters to Fury’s glittering career. The first from debut to November 2015, when he shocked Wladimir Klitschko to become world heavyweight champion. 

Then came that three-year hiatus when Fury’s mental health issues threatened not only his boxing career, but his life. He also ballooned in weight to 400lbs.

Part two – the comeback – began in the summer of 2018 when the new Fury easily beat Sefer Seferi in Manchester. Just six months later he was back at world-title level.

Fury boxed brilliantly against Deontay Wilder in Los Angeles in 2018. Despite being knocked down twice, many experts felt he deserved the decision. Instead it was a controversial draw.

After wins over Otto Wallin and Tom Schwarz in 2019, Fury would rematch Wilder in Las Vegas in February 2020. This time he would leave nothing to chance.

Trained by Javan ‘SugarHill’ Steward and Andy Lee for the first time, he dominated from the first bell. The result was a one-sided beatdown which ended in Round 7 when Wilder’s towel came in.

Fury vs Wilder 3 was another stellar showing from ‘The Gypsy King’, who recovered from two fourth-round knockdowns to roar back and dominate. He would eventually knock out Deontay in Round 11 of a thrilling bout.

Next up was the domestic engagement with Whyte, and it was a triumphant homecoming for Fury in front of a baying crowd of 94.000 at Wembley Stadium. He dominated from the first bell and closed the show late in Round 6 with a perfect uppercut which landed Whyte on his back.

Fury ended 2022 with a convincing win over Dereck Chisora in their trilogy fight – again in London. Then came that surprising struggle against Ngannou in October 2023.

Anthony Joshua record and profile

Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua was born in Watford on October 15, 1989. He is now 32 years old. Joshua stands 6ft 6ins tall with a reach of 82ins. He has a professional record of 28-3 with 25 wins inside distance.

Joshua was destined for professional stardom right from the start, having won Olympic gold in the amateurs at the London Olympics of 2012.

He was utterly dominant in his entry into the paid ranks, demolishing all-comers (including big domestic rival Dillian Whyte) en route to a 15-0 start and his first shot at a world title.

That came against American Charles Martin in April 2016, and AJ made the most of the opportunity. He blasted out Martin inside two rounds to become IBF world heavyweight champion.

Six more victories followed as AJ added the WBA and WBO belts to his collection. His victims included the likes of Joseph Parker, Alexander Povetkin and Carlos Takam.

The signature success though came against Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium in April 2017. After appearing on the brink of defeat, AJ recovered to win a classic via an 11th-round stoppage.

Joshua’s career suffered its first major blip in June 2019, on his American debut at Madison Square Garden. He was beaten inside seven rounds by late stand-in Andy Ruiz Jr.

AJ though took his defeat graciously and immediately exercised the rematch clause. Six months later, lighter and faster, he adapted his gameplan to box beautifully en route to a points victory in the Saudi Arabia rematch.

After a year-long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Joshua finally returned to the ring against Kubrat Pulev on Saturday December 12, 2020.

And the Watford man produced an impressive display to knock out the durable Bulgarian in nine rounds. Pulev took a standing count and was down in the third and then twice in the ninth. The final exclamation point came via a beautiful Joshua right hand which closed the show in some style.

Joshua lost his belts for a second time when he was outpointed by the brilliant Ukrainian Usyk in a fascinating tactical battle at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 25, 2021. Despite an improved showing in the rematch in Saudi Arabia in August 2022, Joshua again fell short as he dropped a split decision to the Ukrainian great.

Joshua’s very career at the highest level now appeared in some doubt, but he would roar back to prominence and title contention in a terrific 2023.

First he outpointed American Jermaine Franklin, before knocking out Robert Helenius. Then he was even more impressive in a five-round demolition of Wallin in December.

If that Wallin was impressive, it was nothing compared to the brutal two-round devastation of former UFC heavyweight king Ngannou in March 2024.

Now the road to undisputed, and Fury vs Joshua, is clear. And once again, it is oh so close.