After years of waiting, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury finally have a date and venue for their long-awaited heavyweight showdown.
The two British former world champions will meet at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on December 11, bringing an end to years of negotiations and speculation over a potential clash.
The fight became possible after both men returned to action in July.
Fury, 37, stopped Polish veteran Mariusz Wach in the seventh round during their bout in Pattaya, Thailand. The event attracted about 1,500 spectators and was not televised.
Joshua, 36, also secured a victory in his comeback fight, although he was forced to recover from two early knockdowns against Kristian Prenga in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Nigerian-born British boxer eventually stopped the Albanian in the second round after surviving the early scare.
That victory came in Joshua’s first fight since the car crash in Nigeria that claimed the lives of his close friends Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele.
Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn had previously wanted the Fury fight at Wembley Stadium. However, the agreement with the Saudi organisers financing the event required the bout to be staged in Britain, while a move to the United States would have meant renegotiating the deal.
Hearn has made no secret of the importance of the fight to Joshua.
Following Pat Brown’s victory over John Hedges on September 19, the promoter said Joshua’s career had reached a major moment, describing the desire to win the fight as particularly strong.
The December meeting will mark the first professional fight between Joshua and Fury, despite the pair spending years at the centre of heavyweight boxing.
Both fighters have also suffered defeats to Oleksandr Usyk during their careers, but their own highly anticipated rivalry has remained unresolved.
That changes on December 11, when the two British heavyweights finally step into the ring together in Cardiff.
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