“Listen, this saga, we will see how this whole thing plays out,” White said. “I mean, they either want to fight or they do not. I do not know.”
White also clarified a key part of the deal. While he previously discussed helping organize the event, he made clear that he did not negotiate Joshua’s personal contract.
“We did the television deal and the venue deal,” White stated.
That detail matters because Eddie Hearn maintains Joshua agreed to face Fury in the United Kingdom, while New York remains on the table for organizers.
A bigger question centers on how much interest remains among American fans in 2026.
Both men are no longer champions ruling the division. They are veteran contenders looking to cash in on a rivalry boxing promoters let marinate for too long.
Even during their peak runs, neither built a deep resume against elite heavyweights in their prime. Their biggest triumphs came against Wladimir Klitschko late in the Ukrainian’s career. Fury outpointed a 39-year-old Klitschko in 2015, while Joshua halted him at age 41 in 2017. Both men extracted massive commercial mileage from those victories.
Today, Joshua and Fury have taken substantial punishment in the ring, leaving them far removed from their best form.
Selling that reality to an American audience is tricky.
British supporters share years of connection with both fighters, meaning ticket demand in London remains strong. American sports fans lack that loyalty. Convinced viewers to watch two past-their-prime heavyweights is already a hard sell, and staging the card in the UK creates another hurdle.
A New York staging allows Netflix to broadcast the event in traditional prime time for US audiences. Staging it in Britain leaves the American market with a mid-afternoon stream.
Joshua holds contractual leverage regarding the location. If Netflix and Zuffa view New York as essential for viewership numbers, Joshua has little reason to concede without compensation. Hearn can argue for home soil while using the venue shift to negotiate a larger purse.
Backers face a financial dilemma: does moving the event across the Atlantic generate enough revenue to justify the added cost?
Both fighters created this problem by delaying the bout when undisputed belts were on the line. Back then, fans simply wanted to know who reigned supreme, and location was secondary.
That dynamic is gone. The promotion now relies on nostalgia and casual curiosity. Those factors work in the UK, but they might not convince American subscribers to clear their afternoon schedule.
White put the situation simply: “The fight should happen 10 years ago. Is it going to happen now? We will see.”
Both camps delayed this bout for so long that they are now arguing over the venue of an expired matchup. If Britain remains non-negotiable for Joshua, organizers must decide what the remaining interest is worth without a US prime-time broadcast.
