Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua is finally set for December 11, but the two have never met in a professional ring. They have fought six of the same men, though, and those 14 fights are the best preview we have.
Joshua likes to say he stopped every opponent they share. Fury’s fans point to his record against the same names and his edge in skill. I went through all 14 fights, result by result, to see which side the evidence actually backs.
Key Takeaways
- Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua is set for Friday, December 11, 2026, at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, live on Netflix.
- They share six opponents: Kevin Johnson, Wladimir Klitschko, Dillian Whyte, Otto Wallin, Francis Ngannou and Oleksandr Usyk.
- Joshua stopped all five shared opponents he beat. Fury beat the same five but stopped only Whyte.
- Usyk beat both men twice, which cancels out the best evidence on either side. Our pick is Fury on points, with Joshua dangerous early.
Table of Contents
When is Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua?
Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua takes place on Friday, December 11, 2026, at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. It streams live on Netflix at no extra cost to members.
The main event won’t start until the early hours of Saturday, December 12, UK time. That puts the ring walks in Friday evening prime time in the US.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Date | Friday, December 11, 2026 |
| Venue | Principality Stadium, Cardiff, Wales |
| Ring walks | Expected around 1 a.m. UK time, Saturday, December 12 |
| How to watch | Netflix, no extra cost to members |
| Tickets | Sold out in about an hour on October 9 |
| Rematch clause | None. Both camps say it’s a one-fight deal. |
It’s Fury’s third fight of 2026 and Joshua’s second. Fury beat Arslanbek Makhmudov in April and Mariusz Wach in July. Joshua knocked out Kristian Prenga in July.
Is a world title on the line?
Yes, according to promoter Frank Warren. The WBA will put its “super” heavyweight title on the line, the belt Oleksandr Usyk vacated. The winner of Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua becomes a three-time heavyweight world champion.
It’s messier than it sounds. The WBA already has a “regular” champion, Murat Gassiev, and he has questioned the decision. The WBC has also said it will treat the bout as a final eliminator, which lines up with the WBC’s 2026 rankings. For the full picture, here’s who holds the heavyweight titles now.
Fury vs Joshua tale of the tape
Going into Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua, Fury has the size and the reach. Joshua has the higher knockout rate, with 27 stoppages in 30 wins.
| Tyson Fury | Anthony Joshua | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 36-2-1 | 30-4 |
| Knockouts | 25 | 27 |
| Age on fight night | 38 | 37 |
| Height | 6 ft 9 in | 6 ft 6 in |
| Reach | 85 in | 82 in |
| Stopped as a pro | Never | Twice (Ruiz, Dubois) |
| World titles held | WBA (super), IBF, WBO, IBO, WBC, The Ring | WBA (super), IBF, WBO, IBO |
| Last fight | RTD 7 vs Mariusz Wach, July 2026 | KO 2 vs Kristian Prenga, July 2026 |
Both men have worn the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO straps. Fury also held the green-and-gold WBC belt from 2020 to 2024. Each sanctioning body’s belt has its own look, and here’s how the WBA, WBC and IBO belts differ.
Anthony Joshua boxing record at a glance
The Anthony Joshua record stands at 30-4 with 27 knockouts. He won Olympic gold at London 2012, turned pro in 2013, and held the unified heavyweight titles twice between 2017 and 2021. His full fight-by-fight record lists all 34 pro bouts.
His four losses:
- Andy Ruiz Jr., TKO 7, June 2019, Madison Square Garden. Joshua won the rematch six months later.
- Oleksandr Usyk, unanimous decision, September 2021, London
- Oleksandr Usyk, split decision, August 2022, Jeddah
- Daniel Dubois, KO 5, September 2024, Wembley Stadium
Since Dubois, he’s 2-0. He knocked out Jake Paul in the sixth round in December 2025. Then Prenga dropped him twice in the first round in July 2026, and Joshua got up to knock him out in the second.
Tyson Fury boxing record at a glance
Fury is 36-2-1 with 25 knockouts, and nobody has stopped him as a pro. His full record shows only three blemishes in 39 fights:
- Draw: Deontay Wilder, split decision, December 2018, Los Angeles
- Loss: Oleksandr Usyk, split decision, May 2024, Riyadh
- Loss: Oleksandr Usyk, unanimous decision, December 2024, Riyadh
Fury retired in January 2025 and came back this year. He outpointed Makhmudov over 12 rounds in April. Then Wach’s corner pulled him out after seven rounds in July.
[IMAGE: Side-by-side graphic of both records: wins, losses, draws and knockouts for each fighter.]
Who have Fury and Joshua both fought?
Fury and Joshua have six common opponents: Kevin Johnson, Wladimir Klitschko, Dillian Whyte, Otto Wallin, Francis Ngannou and Oleksandr Usyk. That’s 14 fights, seven for each man, and nothing previews Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua more directly.
| Opponent | Fury’s result | Joshua’s result | Who fought him first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Johnson | W, UD 12 (Dec 2012) | W, TKO 2 (May 2015) | Fury |
| Wladimir Klitschko | W, UD 12 (Nov 2015) | W, TKO 11 (Apr 2017) | Fury |
| Dillian Whyte | W, TKO 6 (Apr 2022) | W, TKO 7 (Dec 2015) | Joshua |
| Otto Wallin | W, UD 12 (Sep 2019) | W, RTD 5 (Dec 2023) | Fury |
| Francis Ngannou | W, SD 10 (Oct 2023) | W, KO 2 (Mar 2024) | Fury |
| Oleksandr Usyk | L, SD 12 (May 2024); L, UD 12 (Dec 2024) | L, UD 12 (Sep 2021); L, SD 12 (Aug 2022) | Joshua |
UD means unanimous decision, SD split decision, TKO technical knockout, and RTD a corner retirement between rounds.
Read across the rows and two patterns jump out. Against the same five men, Joshua stopped all five and Fury stopped one. And Usyk beat both of them twice.
The last column matters too. Joshua fought four of those five men after Fury had already been in with them, sometimes years later.
How each man handled the same opponents
The scorecard tells you who won. The details tell you how hard each man had to work, and that’s where the picture changes.
Kevin Johnson
Fury fought Johnson first, in Belfast in December 2012. He won a wide decision, but the BBC and ESPN both called it a flat performance.
Joshua met Johnson in London in May 2015 and finished him early in round two. No one had stopped Johnson before. He’d gone 12 rounds with Vitali Klitschko, Fury and Derek Chisora.
Edge: Joshua.
Wladimir Klitschko
This is the biggest name on the list. Fury beat Klitschko on points in Dusseldorf in November 2015. That win took the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring titles off a 39-year-old champion.
Joshua stopped Klitschko in round 11 at Wembley in April 2017, in front of 90,000 fans. But Klitschko was 41 by then, and he dropped Joshua in round six. At the stoppage, one judge had Klitschko ahead.
Edge: Even. Fury beat the younger version, and Joshua got the finish.
Dillian Whyte
Whyte is one of only two shared opponents Joshua fought first. Whyte had beaten Joshua as an amateur in 2009, and he hurt Joshua in round two of their 2015 pro fight. Joshua came back to stop him in the seventh.
Fury met Whyte at Wembley in April 2022, in front of 94,000 people. He ended it with a right uppercut in the final seconds of round six. Both men stopped Whyte, and Fury did it a round sooner.
Edge: Fury, narrowly.
Otto Wallin
Wallin was 20-0 when he fought Fury in Las Vegas in September 2019. A left hook cut Fury badly over the right eye in round three, and a head clash opened another cut in the fifth. Fury fought from the fifth round on with his vision affected and still won a clear decision.
Joshua fought Wallin four years later in Riyadh, and Wallin’s corner pulled him out after five rounds. The gap matters: Wallin was no longer the unbeaten prospect who troubled Fury.
Edge: Joshua on the result, Fury on the degree of difficulty.
Francis Ngannou
Ngannou made his pro boxing debut against Fury in October 2023. Fury went in as a 14-1 favorite. Ngannou dropped him in round three, and Fury won a split decision over 10 rounds.
Five months later, Joshua dropped Ngannou in round one and knocked him out in round two. This is Joshua’s strongest piece of evidence, though he had Fury’s fight as a blueprint.
Edge: Joshua, clearly.
Oleksandr Usyk
Usyk is the only shared opponent who beat either man, and he beat both of them twice.
Joshua lost a unanimous decision in London in 2021, then a split decision in the 2022 rematch. Fury lost a split decision in May 2024 after Usyk dropped him near the end of round nine. He lost the December rematch on all three cards.
Edge: None. Neither man found an answer to the best fighter on the list.
Does “Joshua stopped them all” actually hold up?
Partly. Joshua did stop every shared opponent he beat, while Fury stopped only one. But the timing, the opponents’ ages and the Usyk results shrink that gap.
Joshua made the claim himself before the Ngannou fight, saying he’d knocked out every opponent he and Fury had in common. Here’s what the claim leaves out:
- Joshua usually went second. He fought Johnson, Klitschko, Wallin and Ngannou after Fury did. He could study exactly how each one gave Fury trouble.
- Some opponents had aged. Klitschko was 39 against Fury and 41 against Joshua. Wallin had four more years of fights on him.
- Both men got dropped. Klitschko put Joshua down. Ngannou and Usyk put Fury down. Neither man’s chin has a clean record against this group.
- The elite test was a tie. Usyk beat both men twice, and he’s the best fighter either one has faced.
So the pattern proves one thing well: Joshua finishes hurt fighters better than Fury does. It doesn’t prove he can hurt Fury enough to finish him. Fury has climbed off the canvas against Wilder, Ngannou and Usyk, and he’s never been counted out.
[FOUNDER NOTE: Optional. If you watched any of these fights live or have a memory that shaped your view of either man, add one or two lines here. Otherwise delete this note.]
Who wins Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua? Our pick
My Fury vs Joshua prediction is Fury on points. The common opponents show Joshua is the bigger finisher. But Fury beat every one of those same men too, often while cut or hurt.
Recent work matters as well. Fury has boxed 19 rounds in 2026, and Joshua has boxed two. At 38 and 37, a long fight favors the man who’s been there lately.
Joshua’s path is early. He needs to land his right hand in the first six rounds, before Fury settles into his rhythm. Ngannou and Usyk both put Fury down, so that window is real.
The betting market leans the same way. Fury opened as a clear favorite, with sportsbooks and prediction markets pricing his chances at roughly 58% to 65%.
Fury vs Joshua FAQ
Have Fury and Joshua ever fought before?
Not as professionals, so December 11 is their first real fight. They did spar around 2010, when Fury was an unbeaten pro and Joshua was an amateur on his way to the 2012 Olympics. Both camps still tell that story differently.
Who has Anthony Joshua lost to?
Three men: Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019, Oleksandr Usyk twice in 2021 and 2022, and Daniel Dubois in 2024. Joshua avenged the Ruiz loss in a rematch six months later.
How can I watch Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua?
Stream it on Netflix, where it’s included for members with no pay-per-view fee. Ring walks are expected around 1 a.m. UK time, which is Friday evening in the US. To plan the rest of your boxing calendar, here are other big fights this year.
When is the next Anthony Joshua fight?
The next Anthony Joshua fight is against Tyson Fury on Friday, December 11, 2026, in Cardiff. It will be his second fight of 2026, after his second-round knockout of Kristian Prenga in July.
Is there a rematch clause?
No. Both camps say it’s a one-fight deal, so the loser has no guaranteed second shot.
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