Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury are expected to meet face to face in London on Wednesday, September 30, after a drug-testing dispute put their first press conference in doubt. The event is scheduled for 6 p.m. BST at the British Airways ARC at Olympia and is due to stream on the Netflix Sports YouTube channel.
For a fight that has spent years being discussed, even getting both men to a microphone has taken some work. The latest snag involved the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, or VADA. Joshua’s deal called for both fighters to enter its testing pool after signing their agreements, according to reports on the contracts. Fury’s side understood its obligation differently: it said testing would begin once the fight was officially finalised.
Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury Press Conference: On, Off, On Again
As of Monday afternoon, Fury had reportedly not enrolled, and Joshua was considering staying at his training camp in Dubai rather than travelling to the launch. Joshua had already made the issue public. On September 22, he shared what he said was a message from VADA president Margaret Goodman asking about Fury’s enrolment and whereabouts information.
By Monday evening, the picture had changed. Fury had enrolled with VADA, BoxingScene reported, and Joshua was travelling to London for Wednesday’s event. Mike Coppinger also reported that both fighters were in camp and heading to the capital, with Turki Alalshikh pressing the parties over the previous 48 hours to keep the promotion on track. The reported breakthrough addresses the immediate reason Joshua might have missed the press conference; it does not settle every argument around the fight.
There is still the Dana White question. Netflix’s announcement presented the December bout as a collaboration involving Alalshikh’s The Ring and White, the UFC chief and Zuffa Boxing head. Hearn says Joshua’s contract rules out White’s involvement in promoting it and has said White will not be at the press conference. White has maintained that he is involved. Asked over the weekend whether he would attend, he replied, “I guess I’ll leave that as a surprise.”
His absence is therefore Hearn’s stated expectation, not a confirmed resolution of their dispute. That disagreement had already cast doubt on the launch before the VADA issue surfaced. Hearn said on Sunday that nothing was confirmed from his side for the following week’s press conference, adding that it could not happen without Joshua’s camp.
White, asked whether the event would take place, said he had “no idea.” Now the fighters are expected on stage, even if the question of who gets to promote them remains open. The bout itself is scheduled for Friday, December 11, at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, with Netflix carrying it worldwide. Joshua and Fury signed agreements earlier this year, but the date and venue were confirmed only last week. Previous attempts to make the all-British fight fell apart in 2021 and 2022. This time, the first face-off appears to be back on. In the Fury-Joshua story, “Wednesday” is a useful milestone; it is not quite the final bell.
