The deal between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua carries no safety net. There is no rematch clause in the contract for their December 11 meeting at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, and both sides are talking as if the loser will not be coming back at all.

Fury’s manager Spencer Brown put the stakes in plain terms when he spoke to Sky Sports.

“Contractually, there’s one fight. There’s one big fight,” Brown said.

He pointed to both fighters’ ages and the lack of a route back. Whoever loses, he suggested, has nowhere left to go.

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Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn used blunter language on the same programme.

“No rematch clause. It’s one fight, one-off…end this guy and on we go.”

A vacant belt restored for one night

The vacant WBA “super” heavyweight title will be on the line in Cardiff. The sanctioning body briefly retired the designation at heavyweight after Oleksandr Usyk gave up the belt in June, then restored it specifically for Fury against Joshua, according to Boxing Insider.

Frank Warren, who promotes Fury, confirmed to Boxing Insider that no rematch provision was in place as the deal was coming together.

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The bout, 10 years after the two first sparred as amateur and professional, is being staged on Netflix.

Joshua promises an early finish

Joshua, 30-4 with 27 knockouts, told The Ring he is hunting an early finish and is open to it ending inside a round.

“Obviously my aim is to try and end the fight as early as possible. There’s no extra time in boxing.”

Joshua added that he expects the fight to be over inside 10 rounds.

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Fury, 36-2-1 with 25 knockouts, is in no mood to run the distance either. At the launch event in London he promised to “come out and gun him out of there” and called the fight “the biggest boxing match that’s ever been. Ever.”

What comes next

Brown has already named the plan if Fury wins: a third fight with Usyk, the Ukrainian who has beaten Fury twice. Hearn’s version of life after Cardiff rests on a Joshua win, with Hearn arguing his man will have cleared out this side of the heavyweight division.

At an Olympia press conference this week that was unusually civil for a British heavyweight build-up, Fury spoke warmly of his opponent.

“This man is a two-time heavyweight world champion, Olympic gold medallist, and he has been a role model and a poster boy for British boxing for years.”

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The fight is scheduled for December 11 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, streaming on Netflix.

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