Dana White has credited Eddie Hearn for making sure the long-awaited fight between Tyson Fury and Antony Joshua will be held in the UK but insisted he was “bored” of their ongoing feud.
The heavyweight bout will take place at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff – despite efforts to host it New York’s Madison Square Garden – on a bill that starts on 11 December, though they are not expected to fight until the early hours of 12 December.
White and Saudi Arabian organisers wanted the bout in the United States, but Joshua and his promoter Hearn refused to budge on their contractual right to have it in the UK.
“You’ve got to give credit to Eddie for really grinding that and making sure that it happened in the UK,” UFC president and Zuffa Boxing chief White told Steve Bunce on the 5 Live Boxing with Bunce podcast.
However, there had been doubts over the contest because of a dispute over the role of White in the promotion of the event.
The fight, which will be shown on Netflix, has been presented as a collaboration between Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh’s The Ring and White.
Hearn has been publicly feuding with White since the launch of Zuffa Boxing earlier this year and said his involvement in the fight “ain’t happening”.
But, Fury and Joshua held a news conference on 30 September, to ease concerns over their fight.