Anthony Joshua is unlikely to walk into the London press conference on Wednesday morning unless Tyson Fury has first signed up for VADA random drug testing. That is the condition being pushed by Joshua’s camp, according to a report from Boxing 24/7, with the absence on stage treated as leverage on Fury and on the organisers.
Joshua’s team has already posted an email from VADA asking whether Fury would enrol in its testing pool. As of Monday afternoon, he had not. The Sun also reported that Fury did not hold an active licence from the British Boxing Board of Control on Monday morning.
Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, has framed the delay as a broken timeline.
“Testing was supposed to start when the original contracts were signed. And it didn’t for them,” Hearn told The Sun.
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The press conference is scheduled for the British Airways Arc in London on Wednesday, 30 September, roughly ten weeks out from the fight itself. Hearn had already told Sky Sports on Sunday that “at the moment nothing confirmed for next week press conference wise,” adding that a launch event was impossible without Matchroom’s involvement.
Dana White and a fight that shook 36 hours after it was booked
The stand-off did not start with drug testing. Turki Alalshikh’s announcement of the fight listed Dana White as a promotional partner alongside The Ring, and Hearn instantly disputed that arrangement, citing a contractual restriction on Zuffa’s involvement in Matchroom-tied bouts.
Fury took the other side of the argument on social media.
“Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn are trying to pull out of this fight… It’s mainly to do with Eddie Hearn’s ego,” Fury wrote.
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WBA super belt added to the bill
The bout will now carry a world title. The vacant WBA “super” heavyweight championship was added to the fight on Thursday, Mike Coppinger reported, ending the earlier plan for a non-title contest. The Ring heavyweight belt is currently held by Oleksandr Usyk and is not part of the promotion.
Netflix has the fight globally from the 80,000-seat Principality Stadium in Cardiff, with the first bell likely in the early hours of Saturday morning UK time to fit a US Friday prime-time slot.
As of Monday afternoon, Fury had neither entered the VADA testing pool nor held an active BBBoC licence, and the promoter dispute over Dana White’s role remained unresolved.
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