Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are set to finalise their long-awaited heavyweight clash for December 11 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.

According to NoSmokeBoxing, citing veteran boxing writer Dan Rafael, Friday, December 11, is now the preferred date, after November 28 and December 4 were earlier discussed.

Permits and other final hurdles are said to be all that stand between the two camps and an official announcement, which could come by the end of the weekend. Fury is reportedly the last party to approve the latest changes, and a press conference is expected later this month.

The bout will start at 2am UK time, a concession to Netflix and US broadcast schedules, so the main event will fall in the early hours of Saturday, December 12.

Wembley Stadium, which was also considered, ran into an 11pm curfew, while the Principality Stadium normally operates under a 10:30pm curfew.

NoSmokeBoxing says the Welsh Government is reportedly open to granting an exemption, though approval is still pending. The venue has staged early-hours fights before, with Joe Calzaghe’s 2007 win over Mikkel Kessler also starting late for American television.

Venue had been the main sticking point. BoxingScene reports that New York’s Madison Square Garden, on November 20, was the choice of financier Turki Alalshikh, Netflix and Dana White, who felt a US date would attract a bigger audience and more money. Joshua’s contract, however, stipulated that the fight must be held in the UK, and he and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, refused to budge.

“That is why, unfortunately for these people, the fight will not be taking place in America, because Anthony Joshua is not a sell-out,” Hearn told iFL TV.

He added that Joshua “could have taken many millions more to do the fight in America”, and that support on social media had made the camp “double down on our principles”. White has accused Hearn of hurting the fight, a claim the promoter rejects.

“Dana White has tried to get involved in a fight that he has nothing to do with. All we have ever done is say, ‘We have signed our contract. Just honour the contract that we have signed,’” Hearn said.

Interest in Cardiff is already high. UK reports say the Welsh Rugby Union’s hotel, The Parkgate, next to the stadium, has no rooms for December 12, while the Marriott and Holiday Inn in the city centre are also sold out and a one-night stay at the Hilton was recently priced at £259.

Fury, who is 36-2-1 as a professional, lost twice to Oleksandr Usyk in 2024 and has since beaten Arslanbek Makhmudov in April and Mariusz Wach in July. Joshua is 30-4 and has rebuilt since his knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in September 2024, stopping Jake Paul in the sixth round in December 2025 and Kristian Prenga in the second round in July, despite being knocked down twice in the first.