Eddie Hearn Threatens to Kill Fury vs Joshua Over New York Move

The biggest fight in British heavyweight history hasn't even been officially announced, and it's already close to falling apart over a postcode. Eddie Hearn told The Punch Podcast that if Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua is publicly declared for Madison Square Garden in November without a renegotiated deal, he'll pull the plug — his words, not ours: he ain't bluffing.

The mechanics matter here. According to Hearn, both fighters signed contracts stipulating a UK venue, and he claims Turki Al-Alshikh's team and Netflix are now pushing hard to stage it in New York for commercial reasons. Hearn says the backers recently wrote asking to announce the MSG location, and he told them no — warning that if they go ahead and announce it anyway, he'll come out fast and say the fight's off.

The Money Play

Hearn's angle isn't subtle, and he didn't pretend otherwise. He said the plan is to price the American option so high that the promoters simply decide England is easier — his stated dream scenario is making the US so expensive that everyone just shrugs and does it at home. In other words, he's not fighting the money argument on principle so much as trying to weaponise it.

The problem for Hearn is leverage. He conceded he's not the one writing the cheques, and that when partners are paying serious money they expect a say in where the show lands. That's the tension: a signed UK contract on one side, deep Saudi and streaming pockets on the other.

Where the Fighters Stand

The bout tees up neatly on paper. Fury, ranked #3 at heavyweight with a 36-2-1 (25 KO) ledger, boxed twice this year — most recently stopping 46-year-old Mariusz Wach via seventh-round retirement in Thailand. That was the night before Joshua's own comeback in Jeddah.

Joshua, now 29-4 (26 KO) and unranked, made harder work of it than expected. Little-known contender Kristian Prenga floored him twice in the opening round before AJ recovered to stop him in the second. Ugly, but a win's a win — and it clears the runway for the Fury fight, assuming the two sides can agree on which side of the Atlantic to hold it.