It is happening. After 10 years of failed negotiations, missed deadlines and lost belts, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have finally signed.
Contracts went down on 27 April 2026. Netflix has the broadcast rights. The fight is expected in the fourth quarter of the year.
Beyond that, plenty of details are still to be confirmed. This guide covers what we actually know about the Battle of Britain, what is still up in the air, and the two summer warm-up fights that need to go right before any of it can happen. For ongoing build-up coverage and breaking news on every twist and turn, BetVictor’s boxing news hub has every update.
What We Know and What’s Still to Be Confirmed
Confirmed
- Contracts: Both fighters signed in late April 2026, with Eddie Hearn announcing it on social media as ‘signed, sealed, delivered’ and Turki Alalshikh confirming the same.
- Broadcaster: Netflix has the global rights. The streaming platform announced the fight on 11 April 2026, hours after Fury’s win over Arslanbek Makhmudov.
- Conditional on warm-ups: Promoter Eddie Hearn has stated publicly that the fight is off if either Fury or Joshua loses their summer warm-up bout.
- Saudi backing: Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, has financed the negotiations and announced the deal publicly.
Still TBC
- Exact date: November 2026 has been widely reported, but no official date has been set. The fight is best described as ‘expected in Q4 2026’.
- Venue: Wembley Stadium has been mentioned as the leading candidate, but Saudi Arabia remains an option. Croke Park in Dublin has been ruled out.
- Undercard: Nothing has been confirmed beyond the main event.
- Fury’s Dublin opponent: His 1 August warm-up has the venue and date locked in, but the opponent has not been named yet (more on that below).
Anything beyond those bullet points is speculation at this stage. Final purses, exact gate revenue, broadcast deal numbers and undercard details have not been confirmed by either camp or by Netflix.
The Two Summer Warm-Ups That Stand in the Way
Before any of it happens, both fighters need to win a summer tune-up. The fights are one week apart in late July and early August 2026. If either man loses, Eddie Hearn has confirmed that the Battle of Britain collapses.
Anthony Joshua vs Kristian Prenga (Saturday 25 July 2026, Riyadh)
Joshua’s return is set for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday 25 July 2026. His opponent is Albanian heavyweight Kristian Prenga. The fight will air on DAZN as part of Turki Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season programming.
Prenga enters as a heavy underdog. Joshua, meanwhile, has not boxed competitively since his win over Jake Paul on 19 December 2025 in Miami. Before that, he was out of the ring for 15 months following the Daniel Dubois knockout loss at Wembley in September 2024. He also dealt with elbow surgery, a shoulder injury, and the trauma of a December 2025 car accident in Nigeria that killed two of his close friends.
The Prenga fight is meant to shake off any ring rust before the bigger night. Joshua himself has framed it bluntly. He said on Matchroom Boxing’s Instagram: ‘They’ve dangled the carrot in front of me saying if I can beat Prenga I can fight Tyson Fury, so I’m fully locked in on getting the job done.’
Tyson Fury vs TBC (Saturday 1 August 2026, 3Arena Dublin)
Fury’s tune-up follows one week later on Saturday 1 August 2026. The venue is the 3Arena in Dublin, where Frank Warren and Queensberry Promotions had already lined up a card headlined by Pierce O’Leary vs Mark Chamberlain for the IBO super-lightweight title.
Fury announced the date himself, posting an Instagram video from his training base in Thailand with the caption: ‘Let’s go August 1, Dublin, Ireland.’ The opponent has not yet been confirmed at the time of publication. Frank Warren has stated the team is looking for what he described as a ‘good heavyweight’ to provide a stern but manageable test. Warren has explicitly ruled out Andy Ruiz Jr.
This will be Fury’s second fight back from his 16-month retirement. His April 2026 win over Arslanbek Makhmudov by unanimous decision at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium showed limited rust, but Dublin will be the first test of whether he can sustain that form across consecutive fights.
A Decade of Failed Negotiations
The Original Talks
Fury and Joshua first started being mentioned as opponents in 2018, when both held world heavyweight titles. The fight was meant to happen multiple times across 2020, 2021 and 2022. Each time, something blocked the path.
The Obstacles
First came mandatory defences that forced one or the other into different fights. Then arbitration rulings handed down by sanctioning bodies, a high-profile failed contract talks in 2021 when Fury was committed to a Deontay Wilder rematch and losses by both fighters to Oleksandr Usyk took the urgency out of the matchup for a while.
Why It’s Happening Now
Turki Alalshikh changed the equation. The Saudi power broker who funded Usyk vs Fury and most of the major heavyweight fights of recent years finally got both camps to the table. Joshua’s December 2025 comeback win over Jake Paul reset his commercial value. And Fury’s April 2026 return from retirement provided the final push.
Officially, contracts were signed on 27 April 2026. Alalshikh announced it on X with a simple message: ‘To my friends in Great Britain, it’s happening. It’s signed.’
Tyson Fury: The Gypsy King’s Story
Tyson Fury enters the fight at 35-2-1 with 24 knockouts. The 37-year-old from Manchester stands 6 feet 9 inches tall with an 85-inch reach. He is one of the most unorthodox heavyweights in the modern era, switching stance constantly and using a long jab to control distance. BetVictor’s Tyson Fury odds page covers every market on the Gypsy King’s career heading into the megafight.
The Klitschko Era
Fury became the unified WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion of the world in November 2015 by outboxing Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf. That win established him as one of the best heavyweights of his generation. Mental health struggles then kept him out of the ring for nearly three years.
Wilder, the WBC Title and the Usyk Defeats
Fury returned in 2018, drew with Deontay Wilder in their first fight, and then knocked Wilder out in their February 2020 rematch to claim the WBC heavyweight title. He held the green and gold belt until May 2024, when he lost a split decision to Oleksandr Usyk in their first undisputed showdown.
Their December 2024 rematch in Riyadh ended with another loss, this time by unanimous decision. Fury announced his fifth retirement in January 2025.
The Comeback
The Gypsy King ended his retirement in April 2026, dominating Russia’s Arslanbek Makhmudov over 12 rounds at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Scores of 120-108, 120-108 and 119-109 showed no signs of rust. Fury called out Joshua in the ring after the final bell.
Anthony Joshua: The Olympic Champion’s Comeback
Anthony Joshua enters the fight at 29-4 with 25 knockouts. The 36-year-old from Watford stands 6 feet 6 inches tall with an 82-inch reach. He combines genuine one-punch power with classical boxing fundamentals built from his amateur career. BetVictor’s Anthony Joshua odds page has every market on AJ’s road to the Battle of Britain.
From Olympic Gold to World Champion
Joshua’s amateur career peaked with super heavyweight gold at the London 2012 Olympics. He turned professional in 2013 and rose rapidly through the heavyweight ranks. By April 2017, he had stopped Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley to claim the unified IBF, WBA and IBO titles in one of the greatest heavyweight fights of the 21st century.
The Ruiz Upset and Recovery
Joshua’s first career loss came as a devastating upset in June 2019. Andy Ruiz Jr. stopped him in seven rounds at Madison Square Garden. Joshua reclaimed his belts in their December 2019 rematch in Saudi Arabia, becoming a two-time unified heavyweight world champion.
The Usyk and Dubois Defeats
Usyk took the unified belts from Joshua in September 2021 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Joshua lost their August 2022 rematch in Jeddah by split decision. Daniel Dubois then handed him a brutal fifth-round knockout at Wembley in September 2024, the first knockout loss of his career.
The Long Road Back
Joshua spent 15 months out of the ring after the Dubois loss. He underwent elbow surgery and dealt with a shoulder injury. Late 2025 brought the horrific car crash in Nigeria that claimed the lives of two of his close friends, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele. His December 2025 return saw him stop Jake Paul in Miami, breaking the YouTuber’s jaw in the process.
Tale of the Tape
- Tyson Fury: Age 37, 6’9″, 85″ reach, 35-2-1 (24 KOs), Orthodox/Switch-hitter
- Anthony Joshua: Age 36, 6’6″, 82″ reach, 29-4 (25 KOs), Orthodox
Fury’s three-inch height advantage and three-inch reach advantage favour his preferred style of fighting on the outside behind a long jab. Joshua’s higher knockout percentage and superior amateur pedigree favour his more orthodox boxing-puncher approach.
Styles Make Fights
Fury’s Approach
Fury fights from a high guard with constant movement. He switches between orthodox and southpaw stances mid-round. His jab is the central weapon. His ability to hold and tie up shorter opponents on the inside has neutralised some of the best heavyweights of his era.
Joshua’s Approach
Joshua moves forward behind a textbook jab of his own. His right hand is one of the heaviest single punches in heavyweight boxing. He hurt both Ruiz and Klitschko with that shot. His vulnerabilities have been his stamina under pressure and his chin against precise counter-punching, both issues highlighted by the Ruiz, Usyk and Dubois losses.
Where the Fight Could Be Won
Joshua wins this fight by closing the distance early and detonating his right hand inside Fury’s guard. Fury wins it by keeping the fight at range, jabbing Joshua all night, and dragging him into deep waters where Joshua’s stamina has historically faded. A 12-round chess match favours Fury. An early ambush favours Joshua.
The British Heavyweight Heritage
Fury vs Joshua joins a long line of major British heavyweight events. Lennox Lewis vs Frank Bruno in 1993. Lewis vs Mike Tyson at the Pyramid Arena in 2002. Joshua vs Klitschko at Wembley in 2017. The Battle of Britain promises to surpass all of them in commercial scale, with the Netflix global reach lifting it beyond the traditional UK pay-per-view ceiling. Our guide to the greatest British heavyweights of all time covers the full historical context the winner of this fight will join.
Where Fury vs Joshua Sits in 2026 Boxing
The Pound-for-Pound Picture
Neither Fury nor Joshua sits inside the current top 10 pound-for-pound. Both fell out of the rankings after their losses to Oleksandr Usyk and recent inactivity. The winner of the Battle of Britain re-enters the conversation, particularly if the performance is dominant. Our pound-for-pound boxing rankings guide covers the current top 10 led by Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk.
The Belt Implications
No world titles will be directly on the line at the Battle of Britain. Usyk currently holds the WBA, WBC and IBF heavyweight belts, with Daniel Dubois holding the WBO version. The winner of Fury vs Joshua positions themselves as the leading challenger for either of those champions in 2027. Our undisputed champions in boxing guide covers how the four-belt era and the current heavyweight title picture work in 2026.
Who Is Watching Closely?
Britain’s rising heavyweight contender Moses Itauma is the most interested observer outside the fight itself. The 21-year-old WBO mandatory challenger faces Filip Hrgovic at the O2 Arena in August 2026, with a world title shot likely soon afterwards. Whichever of Fury or Joshua wins on Netflix in November becomes a potential next opponent for Itauma’s first major title defence.
Why Heavyweight Is Still Boxing’s Biggest Stage
Heavyweight is the only one of boxing’s 17 weight classes with no upper weight limit, which is why it has always carried the sport’s biggest cultural moments. From Ali through Tyson to Lewis, Klitschko and Usyk, the heavyweight champion has consistently been the most famous fighter in the world. Our boxing weight classes guide explains how all 17 divisions are structured and why heavyweight occupies its unique position at the top of the sport.
How to Watch Fury vs Joshua in the UK
The Battle of Britain will stream live on Netflix. There is no traditional pay-per-view component planned for the UK, which is a major break from how previous British heavyweight megafights have been distributed. Anyone with a Netflix subscription gets the fight included in their existing plan.
This continues Netflix’s growing investment in live boxing. The streamer carried the November 2024 Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson exhibition, Joshua vs Jake Paul in December 2025, and Fury’s April 2026 win over Makhmudov. The Battle of Britain looks like the most ambitious sports broadcast on the platform to date.
Where to Bet on Fury vs Joshua
BetVictor offers boxing odds across the full Battle of Britain market, from outright winner and method of victory to total rounds, scorecards and round-by-round betting. New customers can also check out the latest BetVictor sports offers before placing their first wager on what looks like the biggest UK boxing event in years.
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