Joshua and Tyson Fury to fight in Cardiff December 11

Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will meet in a long-awaited all-British heavyweight showdown at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on December 11

The fight will bring together two of Britain’s biggest heavyweight names after both men came through their respective warm-up bouts in July. Fury stopped 46-year-old Mariusz Wach in the seventh round in Pattaya, Thailand, in a bout staged before around 1,500 spectators and not broadcast on television.

Joshua, 36, endured a dramatic contest in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, recovering from two first-round knockdowns before stopping Albanian heavyweight Kristian Prenga in the second round. The first knockdown came just 20 seconds into the fight, but Joshua recovered to secure victory.

The bout was Joshua’s first since surviving a car crash in Nigeria that claimed the lives of his close friends Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele. After his victory, Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn had expressed a preference for the fight to take place at Wembley Stadium.

However, Joshua’s agreement with the Saudi organisers financing the event required the contest to be held in Britain, with a move to the United States requiring a renegotiation of the deal. Hearn has described the Fury fight as hugely significant to Joshua’s career.

Speaking after Pat Brown’s victory over John Hedges on September 19, Hearn said Joshua’s “whole career comes down to this” fight.

“There is a desperation to win this fight and this is why sport is the greatest. I’ve never wanted to win a fight so badly,” Hearn said.

The December clash will finally see the two British heavyweights share the ring after years of negotiations and speculation surrounding a potential meeting.