Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury’s officially announced fight in Cardiff on 11 December has been thrown into doubt after a dispute over promotional rights. UFC president Dana White said he did not know whether Wednesday’s planned news conference would go ahead, while the public row produced claims of contractual breaches, possible replacement bouts and increasingly hostile social-media posts. The uncertainty has renewed criticism of boxing’s internal politics and complicated a contest billed as one of the sport’s biggest events.

The dispute centres on White and TKO’s involvement in promoting the event alongside Saudi organiser Turki Alalshikh and Netflix. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn claims his fighter’s contract prevents White and TKO from taking a promotional role, while Fury says a similar restriction was removed from his agreement to allow White’s participation. Frank Warren has suggested compromises were needed to secure the Netflix deal, but reports have mentioned alternative fights, including Ryan Garcia versus Terence Crawford, despite Crawford denying that such a contest had been arranged.