Dana White Sounds Trapped by Fury-Joshua Deal

Dana White sounded like a man who knows Zuffa Boxing is inheriting an expensive headache with Tyson Fury against Anthony Joshua.

“Earlier, you said you don’t want to get into the Joshua-Fury talk. What’s changed in the last week or two, or the last couple of months, that you now can’t talk about it?” a reporter asked White at Saturday night’s postfight press conference.

“I’m [expletive] tired of it. I’m so [expletive] tired of talking about it,” said White. “And I know what you want. I know what you want out of me. You’ll get it soon. That I promise. Have a good night, everybody.”

“You’ll get it soon” sounded like confirmation that an announcement is coming. The irritation may tell us more.

White wanted Fury and Joshua fighting in the United States. Eddie Hearn and Joshua held firm on the contractual requirement for a UK venue. TKO or Zuffa would have needed to renegotiate that provision, adding another expense to a fight for which Turki Alalshikh and Netflix are already paying premium money.

The broadcast time creates another mess. Hold the fight at a normal UK hour, and Netflix receives an afternoon main event in the United States and Canada. Push the ring walks toward 2 a.m. in Cardiff, and the British fans providing most of the interest get treated like furniture.

This is a British nostalgia event dressed up as a global blockbuster. Fury is 38, and Joshua is badly faded. Neither looks ready to handle Filip Hrgovic, Agit Kabayel, Daniel Dubois, Fabio Wardley or Moses Itauma.

White likely knows the two famous names are masking a difficult product: enormous purses, limited North American interest, and no broadcast time that satisfies everyone.

He may be getting Fury against Joshua, but not on his terms.

Share on Facebook

Post on X