New Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua Rumors Reveal 'Front Runner' to Host Heavyweight Fight

Madison Square Garden is now reportedly the frontrunner to host the Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua heavyweight bout, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com.

Per that report, "Netflix, which has steered this, has targeted a few Friday night dates, sources say."

For years, boxing fans have been clamoring to see Fury and Joshua face off. While a fight far earlier in their careers would have been preferable, there is no doubt a great amount of excitement for the pending matchup.

Fury, 37, is 36-2-1 in his career, with both defeats coming against Oleksandr Usyk. He's fought a number of the biggest names in the heavyweight division, with victories over Wladimir Klitschko, Deontay Wilder (two wins, one draw) and Francis Ngannou.

Joshua, 36, has gone 30-4 in his career, with two of those losses coming against Usyk. He likewise has victories over Klitschko and Ngannou and also knocked out social media personality Jake Paul—who was dramatically overmatched—in December.

As for whether there's any chance the long-awaited matchup between Fury and Joshua could yet fall apart, breathe easy, boxing fans.

"It's done," promoter Eddie Hearn told reporters in late July about the fight. "We signed a legally binding contract about three months ago."

Granted, the pair also agreed to a two-fight deal back in 2020 before that fell apart. But this one feels like a reality.

There has been some question about where the fight would take place, however. Wembley Stadium was among the favorites given that both fighters are English, though multiple reports have now suggested that Netflix prefers the United States to stay in line with the time zone of its biggest streaming audience.

"There's a reason that we put contracts together. There's a reason AJ employs lawyers, there's a reason that me and him sit down and have endless conversations to make sure every move is correct," Hearn said in late July. "We insisted that this fight was in the U.K. I know AJ will sometimes want to be a peacekeeper, but the reality is he said to me, 'I want the fight in the U.K.'"

If the fight does stay in the U.K., Hearn said one possibility could be holding the fight at 3 a.m. local time so it would line up with U.S. primetime hours. But it sounds as though Netflix is pushing hard for an NYC fight.