Daily Mail Sport reports that both fighters signed contracts after the venue dispute was resolved earlier this week. An official announcement is planned before the end of August, possibly from a well-known British landmark.
One important detail remains unexplained. Eddie Hearn repeatedly maintained that Joshua had signed for a UK fight and said changing the location would cost the organizers. The report does not reveal how that contractual issue was settled.
Joshua may have received better financial terms to surrender the Wembley date, but no additional payment has been disclosed. He may also have accepted New York once the revenue projections were presented. Any claim about what Joshua received in return remains speculation.
Turki Alalshikh was willing to consider Britain if the numbers worked. Wembley offered a larger crowd and the atmosphere expected from an all-British heavyweight fight, but Madison Square Garden supplies the American broadcast window Netflix wanted.
British viewers now lose twice. They cannot fill Wembley for a fight discussed for more than a decade, and many will have to watch during the early hours of Saturday morning. The event was created by British interest, yet the final scheduling gives priority to the United States.
New York also supplies an uncomfortable personal angle for Joshua. His first fight at Madison Square Garden ended with Andy Ruiz Jr. knocking him down four times and stopping him in the seventh round in June 2019. Beating Fury there would replace the worst memory of Joshua’s career with his most commercially valuable win.
Neither man is fighting to control the heavyweight division. Oleksandr Usyk defeated both twice, leaving Joshua-Fury to arrive years after its greatest competitive value.
The commercial appeal remains substantial. What began as a British stadium fight has become a Netflix entertainment property, with the location and timing chosen to serve the larger international audience rather than the supporters who built the rivalry.
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