Tyson Fury has used Daniel Dubois’ stunning comeback win over Fabio Wardley on Saturday night to make a pointed observation about Anthony Joshua, the man he is expected to fight later this year.
Posting on social media after watching Dubois stop Wardley in the 11th round to claim the WBO heavyweight title, Fury noted a pattern in Dubois’s recent record that he believes says something significant about Joshua.
“I’ve just sat here thinking after Dubois’ unbelievable fight. Dubois fought ‘Big Baby’ Miller, stopped him but never put him down. Then he fought Hrgovic, stopped him but never put him down. He fought Wardley, an unbelievable fight, stopped him but never put him down. He hit Usyk with some bombs, never put him over. Yet he fights Anthony Joshua and pummels him and puts him to the floor four times. I’m not saying Anthony Joshua’s chinless but there are the facts. Take it as you wish and as you will. Everybody else never went over, not a singular person, ‘Big Baby’ Miller, Hrgovic, Usyk or Wardley but Joshua goes down four times. Chinny!”
Fury also teased news about his next fight, calling it unbelievable and exciting, with details to be revealed soon. The 37-year-old returned to action in April with a win over Arslanbek Makhmudov in London, his first fight since suffering his second loss to Oleksandr Usyk in 2024.
Dubois’s victory on Saturday improved his record to 23-3 with 22 knockouts and gave him the WBO heavyweight title that Fury himself once held. The win also set up a potential future collision with WBO mandatory challenger Moses Itauma, though Frank Warren has indicated both Dubois and Wardley will need at least six months out after the brutality of their war in Manchester.
Fury and Joshua are expected to meet in Britain in November, with the fight set to be broadcast on Netflix. Joshua faces Kristian Prenga in Riyadh on July 25 as a tune-up before the mega fight.
Tyson Fury has re-entered the WBC heavyweight rankings following his comeback win over Arslanbek Makhmudov last month in London, climbing straight to the number one position in the sanctioning body’s latest monthly update released on May 6.
Fury, now 35-2-1 with 24 knockouts, bumped previous number one Lawrence Okolie to second place. Okolie’s status is complicated by a recent positive test for a banned performance-enhancing drug that could affect his ranking going forward.
The climb to number one is notable but does not immediately alter Fury’s competitive path. He is not currently pursuing the WBC belt, which remains with Oleksandr Usyk, the two-time undisputed heavyweight champion who also holds the IBF and WBA titles and remains the lineal and Ring Magazine champion. Usyk is set to face kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven in a crossover boxing match on May 23 in Egypt.
The WBC also has interim beltholder Agit Kabayel at 27-0 with 19 knockouts, who would receive first access to Usyk should a title fight be ordered or the belt vacated. Fury’s number-one ranking would theoretically place him next in line after Kabayel, but he is instead committed to his long-awaited fight with Anthony Joshua, which is expected to take place in Britain in November.
The full WBC heavyweight rankings behind Fury and Okolie are as follows: Moses Itauma at number three, followed by Joshua, Filip Hrgovic, Deontay Wilder, Efe Ajagba, Martin Bakole, Richard Torrez Jr., Richard Riakporhe, Andrii Novytskyi, Frank Sanchez, Bakhodir Jalolov, Guido Vianello, and Labinot Xhoxhaj.
Fury previously held the WBC title during his first reign before suffering back-to-back losses to Usyk in 2024. He had also held the IBF, WBA, and WBO titles after defeating Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 before stepping away from the sport amid a period that included a positive test for a banned substance.
Anthony Joshua has his comeback opponent, and there is now a title at stake. The Olympic gold medallist and former two-time unified heavyweight champion will return to the ring on July 25 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, against unbeaten Albanian heavyweight Kristian Prenga, with the official press release billing the bout for the WBC World Heavyweight Championship.
The fight, dubbed “The Comeback,” was confirmed Monday by His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority. It will headline a card at the Esports World Cup at Boulevard City and stream live worldwide on DAZN. The bout opens a new multi-fight Saudi deal for Joshua, and crucially, it is the warm-up that activates a long-rumored showdown with Tyson Fury reportedly targeted for late 2026.
The WBC Title Billing
The official Matchroom Boxing press release describes the fight as being for the WBC World Heavyweight Championship. That billing carries some complications. Oleksandr Usyk currently holds the full WBC heavyweight title and is scheduled to make a voluntary defense against Rico Verhoeven on May 23 at the Pyramids of Giza, while Agit Kabayel holds the WBC interim title and has been waiting on a mandatory shot. Whether Joshua vs Prenga is sanctioned for a vacant version of the belt, a secondary WBC title, or pending further clarification from the sanctioning body, the press release does not specify. Further details from the WBC are expected.
Joshua’s First Fight Since Tragedy
This will be Joshua’s first appearance in the ring since his sixth-round stoppage of Jake Paul on December 19, 2025, in Miami. Ten days after that fight, Joshua was involved in a car crash in Lagos, Nigeria, that killed his close friends Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele. He sustained only minor injuries, but at one point was reportedly believed to be retiring from the sport.
Joshua, 36, broke his silence weeks later in an emotional video confirming his intent to fight on. The July 25 booking is the first concrete step on that road back. He enters with a professional record of 28-4 with 25 knockouts, his most recent win coming via knockout against Jake Paul.
“It’s no secret I’ve taken some time to consolidate and rebuild to be ready for stepping back into the ring, and today is the next step on that journey,” Joshua said. “I’m delighted to have agreed a multi-fight deal starting with July 25th in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I’m looking forward to competing and picking up where I left off. As I said. The landlord will collect his rent. That is certain.”
Joshua’s Heavyweight Résumé
Matchroom’s release leaned hard on Joshua’s career résumé to frame the comeback. Over the past eight years, Joshua has been central to some of boxing’s biggest heavyweight events, with wins over Wladimir Klitschko, Joseph Parker, Kubrat Pulev, and Andy Ruiz Jr., and high-profile defeats against Oleksandr Usyk, Daniel Dubois, and a stoppage of Francis Ngannou. He has headlined stadium events at Wembley Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Who Is Kristian Prenga?
Prenga (20-1, 20 KOs) is a 35-year-old Albanian heavyweight based in New Jersey who carries a perfect knockout ratio. He turned professional in 2016, and his only loss came on points back in 2017. The July 25 bout will be the highest-profile fight of his career and his first major international main event. He has never been beyond eight rounds in a scheduled bout, and he has not faced anyone near world-level opposition.
“Anthony Joshua is a great fighter, but he made a terrible miscalculation in picking me as his opponent,” Prenga said. “This is the kind of fight that changes everything in my life and his. I know they have big plans ahead after this fight. I know they are overlooking me. I’m happy about that. I will derail their plans and shock the world this July in Saudi Arabia.”
The Fury Fight Is the Real Prize
The subtext to Monday’s announcement is unmistakable. Promoter Eddie Hearn has openly said Joshua wanted a tune-up before facing Fury, and reporting from The Ring confirms that if Joshua comes through Prenga unscathed, he will finally meet Fury at the end of 2026 in what would be the most anticipated fight in British boxing history. That super-fight is expected to land on Netflix.
Joshua and Fury have been on a collision course for more than a decade without sharing a ring. Tensions spiked earlier this month when Fury called Joshua out from the ring after beating Arslanbek Makhmudov, leading to Hearn confirming a two-fight structure built around a July warm-up and a Fury showdown later in the year.
For now, the rent will be collected on July 25. The bigger payday is waiting on the other side.
Oleksandr Usyk has delivered a pointed message to Tyson Fury while making his prediction for the Anthony Joshua fight crystal clear.
Speaking with Ring Magazine, Usyk was asked whether Fury could beat Joshua in a potential matchup between the two heavyweight names. His answer was brief and direct.
“AJ will win. AJ will beat you.”
The comment carries added weight given that Usyk defeated Joshua twice in their heavyweight title fights in 2022, making him one of the most credible voices on Joshua’s performance at the elite level. The two are now sharing a training camp ahead of Usyk’s May 23 crossover fight against Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza, with Joshua joining Usyk’s camp and the pair training on staggered daily schedules.
Usyk also reacted to Fury’s comeback win over Arslanbek Makhmudov last Saturday, saying he watched the first six rounds before leaving for church. He confirmed he heard Fury’s post-fight call for a trilogy but made clear that the conversation has to wait until after his own fight.
“I heard Tyson say, ‘Hey, maybe trilogy for us, I’m ready.’ But after my fight with Rico, because now my focus is only May 23rd.”
Rather than dismissing Fury’s return to the ring, Usyk framed it as a positive development for the sport, while also noting that the current generation of heavyweight names is approaching the end of its window.
“Tyson is a crazy man, but come back, four or five times. Tyson back. It’s good now. It’s needed. Needed player. Because all of us heavyweights, I think we have one, two years and the era changes. Young guys come. We go rest, play soccer, golf, drink beer.”
Usyk has previously stated he has approximately three fights remaining in his career: the Verhoeven bout, the winner of Fabio Wardley vs. Daniel Dubois, and a potential trilogy with Fury. A Joshua and Fury fight could reshuffle that timeline, but Usyk’s prediction on who wins that matchup was unambiguous.
Eddie Hearn believes Netflix broke from its usual pattern by releasing only a UK viewership figure for the Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov fight at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 11, and he thinks the reason is straightforward.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, the Matchroom chairman noted that Netflix has consistently released global figures for its boxing events, and that the decision to release a UK-only figure of 5 million viewers suggests the worldwide total was not worth publicizing.
“I’ve never seen it announced like that before. Every other show’s given a global number,” Hearn said. “The bulk of that viewership would be in the UK, but you’d have to think the number was less than 10 million, certainly, and it may even be less than seven or eight. Just strange that a UK number was given rather than a global number.”
The event also featured Conor Benn vs. Regis Prograis and Shakur Stevenson vs. Teofimo Lopez on the undercard, giving the card additional star power beyond Fury’s return fight. Despite that, the viewership picture appears to have fallen short of the benchmarks Netflix has previously seen from its boxing portfolio, which has included major numbers for Jake Paul events and the first Fury vs. Usyk fight.
The figures carry implications beyond the Makhmudov fight itself. Netflix is expected to broadcast the Anthony Joshua vs. Fury fight later this year, and a declining trend in Fury’s standalone drawing power could affect the platform’s approach to that deal. A sub-10 million global number for Fury’s return would represent a meaningful step back from the numbers the platform has used to justify its investment in boxing.
Anthony Joshua created a moment of tension at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday when he declined to enter the ring, and Eddie Hearn has now explained exactly why. Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, the Matchroom chairman revealed that Joshua deliberately decided not to make a public announcement about a fight he does not yet consider finalized.
“I asked AJ if he wanted to get in the ring. He said to me, ‘I don’t want to get in the ring and announce a fight that’s not done. I feel like that’s not being fair and honest with the British public. What if it doesn’t happen? How many times have we done this before?’” Hearn said.
The standoff played out inside the stadium, with Turki Alalshikh’s team calling Joshua out from the ring while he remained seated in the crowd. Hearn told the organizers Joshua would not be getting in the ring, and was informed that Tyson Fury might say something over the rope instead.
On the contractual side, Hearn confirmed that a contract arrived at the end of last week and is currently being reviewed by both Joshua’s personal legal team and Matchroom’s lawyers. He expects a red-lined version to be returned to the Saudi side within 24 to 48 hours. Despite that progress, Hearn was careful to draw a clear line between intention and completion. “There’s a difference between ‘we’re all moving forward to finalize the fight’ and a fight being done and signed,” he said. “It is absolutely our intention to try and close this deal, but it’s not done and it’s not signed. We have been here on a number of occasions before where the fight has fallen through.” He described the remaining issues as nothing major but stressed that Joshua will not rush the process for the sake of optics.
Hearn framed Joshua’s caution as appropriate given the scale of what is being negotiated. “We’re fully committed to making this fight and I fully expect this fight to happen, but it will happen at our speed, in the right way,” he said. “In due time, AJ will be there to collect his rent.” He called the proposed Joshua vs. Fury matchup the biggest fight in the history of British boxing and one of the biggest fights of all time, arguing it deserves to be handled accordingly rather than rushed into a premature announcement.
The proposed deal structure calls for a July warmup fight for Joshua followed by the Fury bout in November. Joshua has not fought since a car crash earlier this year disrupted his original timeline, and Hearn said the warmup is essential given what Joshua has been through physically in the lead-up to what would be the defining fight of his career.
Oleksandr Usyk has named his price for a third fight with Tyson Fury, and it isn’t cheap. The unified heavyweight champion told The Stomping Ground in London that “Greedy Belly” will need to back up his talk with a nine-zero payday.
“Listen. Greedy belly. Give me billion dollars. You take trilogy,” Usyk said.
The number is a direct shot at Fury’s own history of floating massive purse demands for big fights. Usyk delivered it with a smile, but the message landed: if Fury wants a third crack, he can fund it himself.
Usyk Unbothered by the “Blown-Up Cruiserweight” Talk
Fury’s camp has leaned on the “blown-up cruiserweight” line throughout both fight weeks. Usyk, now 24-0 with 15 knockouts and holding The Ring, WBC, WBA, and IBF titles, doesn’t appear to be losing sleep over it.
“Maybe I don’t know. Listen, it’s now it’s my opponent, but I not feel bad. Okay. Listen, I happy,” Usyk said.
The composure tracks with how he’s handled every round of Fury-camp shots, before, during, and after their two fights in Riyadh.
Backing Anthony Joshua to Beat “Greedy Belly”
The warmth Usyk showed toward Anthony Joshua, a man he’s also beaten twice, was the other headline. Joshua has been training alongside Usyk in camp, and the Ukrainian sees a future undisputed champion in him.
“AJ, it’s a future undisputed champion. My Bratton, you know Bratton? Bro, your brother, your bro.”
Asked directly who wins if Joshua and Fury finally share a ring, Usyk didn’t hedge.
“I don’t know who wins the fight. AJ. Really? Yes, of course. AJ win.”
The endorsement carries weight. Eddie Hearn has already confirmed a two-fight deal on the table for Joshua that includes a July warmup and Fury in November.
On Fury vs. Makhmudov
Fury returned from a 16-month layoff on April 11 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, taking a wide unanimous decision over Arslanbek Makhmudov on scores of 120-108, 120-108, and 119-109. Usyk watched the same fight most fans did, one where the finish never came.
“Tyson win. It’s a good. Listen, it’s win. It’s not lost. But maybe a lot of people want to do Tyson knock him out. I’m too.”
Fury used his post-fight mic time to call out Joshua for a Battle of Britain later this year. Joshua refused to step in the ring for the face-off and stared him down instead.
Style Points
The interview opened with Usyk getting a compliment on his outfit. The reply was pure Usyk.
Eddie Hearn has laid out the specifics of the Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury deal for the first time, confirming a two-fight structure that deliberately excludes Deontay Wilder as Joshua’s warmup opponent.
Speaking with talkSPORT Boxing at the Glory in Giza press event in Egypt, Hearn said the offer on the table calls for Joshua to fight in July before facing Fury later in the year.
“The deal that we’ve been offered, which is to fight in July and then fight Tyson Fury in November, is not with Deontay Wilder in mind,” Hearn said. “I think the powers that be don’t really want us to be in that type of fight. We’re up for it. AJ’s also said to me, ‘I will fight Wilder and I will fight Fury back to back.’ But July in the UK looks likely.”
Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season Driving the Offer
Hearn identified the source of the deal as Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season, the Saudi-backed entity that has bankrolled several of boxing’s biggest events over the past two years.
“This is an offer that’s been made by Turki and Riyadh Season, wherever that fight could be, in July, and then fight Tyson Fury,” Hearn said. “That’s the deal that’s been proposed to us at the moment, and that looks like the route that we will take.”
Hearn Would Pick Wilder, But It’s Not His Call
The Matchroom promoter was candid about the tension between what he’d do as a promoter and what the deal structure allows. He openly acknowledged that Wilder would be his first choice for a July warmup if he were running the show.
“If we were promoting the event, that’s exactly what I’d be doing, Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury,” Hearn said. “But this is a deal put to us with Fury against AJ as the mountaintop of that deal. There’ll be a lot of people that won’t want to go into a fight that they feel is risky and put that fight at jeopardy.”
He added: “We have no problem fighting Wilder. I don’t think it will be Wilder under the basis of this deal, but we’ll have to see.”
Netflix Jumped the Gun
Hearn also directly contradicted Netflix’s social media announcement that the Joshua vs. Fury fight is confirmed.
“Netflix put a tweet out saying it’s on. It’s not on,” Hearn said. “AJ didn’t want to put himself in a position and almost tell the British public that after all these years we’ve got it, it’s on, because it’s not. Now, will it be on? I truly believe so. And my instruction from Anthony Joshua is: make the fight.”
Joshua attended the Fury vs. Makhmudov fight on Saturday but refused to enter the ring for a premature announcement. Hearn said Joshua asked him directly whether the deal was done and declined to go out when told it wasn’t.
The Power Has Shifted
Hearn framed the current negotiation dynamic as a complete reversal from years past, when Fury held the belts and demanded 60-40 splits.
“It was the first time Fury’s kind of come out and gone, ‘I want you. You’re the only fight I want next,’” Hearn said. “And it was good to hear, and AJ’s the landlord.”
Hearn also referenced Joshua’s personal struggles without going into specifics, asking fans for patience as the timeline plays out.
“Sometimes people are quick to forget that,” Hearn said. “The work that he’s put in to even get himself to this position has been so admirable. It’s been incredible. I think it’s great just having him around after what’s happened. He’s ready and he’s motivated, but we’ve got to do it right.”
Tyson Fury ends his fifth retirement on Saturday, April 11, stepping into a sold-out Tottenham Hotspur Stadium against one of the most dangerous knockout artists in the heavyweight division. Arslanbek Makhmudov has finished 19 of his 21 opponents. This is not a tuneup.
What to know:
Main Event: Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov, heavyweight, 12 rounds
How to Watch: Netflix, included with all standard plans — no pay-per-view cost
Stakes: Fury says a loss means immediate retirement. His career hangs on a 16-month comeback.
The Fight
Fury carries a 34-2-1 record (24 KOs) into this one, but the losses matter. Both defeats came against Oleksandr Usyk in 2024, the second by unanimous decision in December. That back-to-back slide ended his reign as a two-time heavyweight world champion and prompted what he called his final retirement. It lasted about a year. A family holiday to Thailand in December turned into a training camp, which turned into a signed contract. As Fury put it to Sky Sports: “I had zero intentions of making a comeback when I came here in December, none, I was happily retired. And then the sunshine, a bit of training and one thing led to another.”
Makhmudov is no soft return. The 36-year-old Dagestani stands 6-foot-6 and carries a 90 percent stoppage rate — 13 of those 19 knockouts came in the first round. He stopped four straight opponents in 2023 before running into Agit Kabayel and Guido Vianello in back-to-back TKO losses. Since then, he has rebuilt steadily, winning the WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Dave Allen in October 2025. He enters this fight as the WBA’s No. 5-ranked heavyweight.
The stylistic contrast is sharp. Fury’s entire career has been built on evasion, distance management, and breaking pressure fighters down over 12 rounds. Makhmudov works the opposite way — forward, constant, punishing. He needs to land early and often before Fury settles in. If this fight reaches the championship rounds, the edge shifts significantly to the returning champion.
The wild card is the 16-month layoff. Fury trained in Thailand, focused on recapturing the elusive footwork of his younger years rather than the power-punching style he drifted into during his later fights. He also made the unusual decision to enter camp without a traditional corner trainer. At the press conference in February, Fury predicted a right-hand KO in round six and physically tickled Makhmudov at the face-off. The Gypsy King is clearly motivated. Whether his reflexes and chin hold up after more than a year away is a different question.
Fury has been direct about what a loss means. “If he beats me, then it’s curtains,” he told The Ring. “There’s no other fights after that. I’m done.” He has outlined a three-fight plan for 2026 that leads to Anthony Joshua, but that only works if he gets through Saturday. Fury has spoken openly about concerns over his own decline, and the rift with his father John — who refuses to attend the fight and has been vocal about wanting Tyson to stop — adds another layer to an already complicated comeback narrative.
Makhmudov, for his part, is under no illusions about what he’s walking into. Speaking to The Guardian, he called Fury “a legend, one of the best heavyweights in history” but added: “I don’t know how I will beat him, but of course I believe I will win.”
Full Fight Card
Match
Division / Title
Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov
Heavyweight (12 rounds)
Conor Benn vs. Regis Prograis
150-pound catchweight
Jeamie Tshikeva vs. Richard Riakporhe
British Heavyweight Title
Frazer Clarke vs. Justis Huni
Heavyweight
Troy Williamson vs. Simon Zachenhuber
Super Middleweight
Felix Cash vs. Liam O’Hare
Middleweight
Elliot Whale vs. Tom Hill
Heavyweight
Hector Avila Lozano vs. Sultan Almohammed
Super Featherweight
Mikie Tallon vs. Cristopher Rios
Bantamweight
Breyon Gorham vs. Eduard Georgiev
Heavyweight
How to Watch
Date/Time: Saturday, April 11, 2026 — Main card 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT / 7 p.m. BST
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, England
Streaming: Netflix (worldwide) — included in all standard plans, no PPV cost
Don’t Miss BoxingWire Coverage
Stay tuned to BoxingWire.com for live results, round-by-round updates, and post-fight analysis from Fury vs. Makhmudov.
Tyson Fury has admitted that watching Deontay Wilder and Derek Chisora fight last weekend left him questioning whether he is on the same trajectory as the two aging heavyweights.
Speaking on the Inside Ring Show ahead of his return to the ring Saturday night against Arslanbek Makhmudov at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Fury was honest about the doubts the performance stirred in him.
“After watching Deontay and Chisora the other night fight, it was hard to watch for me,” Fury said. “It was sad, it was heartbreaking. And I’d never seen two men slide as much as them two in my life.” The performance prompted an immediate and personal reaction. “I’m thinking, ‘Am I f—ing next? Is this me?’ So I said to the boys, ‘If I’m even 10 percent as bad as those guys in my fight, take me out to the field and shoot me.’”
Fury has not fought since dropping back-to-back decisions to Oleksandr Usyk in December 2024. Saturday’s fight against Makhmudov will mark 16 months out of the ring, a long layoff that Fury acknowledged carries its own complications at this stage of his career.
“By the time the fight comes around on Saturday, I’ll have been out of the ring 16 months,” he said. “At 37 years old, 16 months is a long time. So I have a little bit of stuff to do and to think about in my own mind, and see how I am.”
Beyond Saturday, a long-discussed fight with Anthony Joshua remains on the horizon. Reports have suggested Fury vs. Joshua could be finalized for Croke Park in Dublin this September, though promoter Eddie Hearn has stated the fight is not yet confirmed, with Joshua’s team continuing to weigh options, including a potential summer bout with Turki Alalshikh.
