Talks to stage the long-awaited Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua heavyweight fight at Wembley Stadium have reopened, promoter Eddie Hearn says, even as organizers weigh a Madison Square Garden alternative that would trade London's massive stadium capacity for a U.S. television slot. The fight, pencilled in for November 20, 2026, still has no confirmed date or venue, and the sticking point is time: organizers reportedly want the main event to start at 2 a.m. local time in the United Kingdom so it lands in prime time for American viewers.
According to The New York Times, Hearn said Sela, the Saudi Arabian entertainment company owned by the kingdom's Public Investment Fund, has asked him to reopen discussions with Wembley and London Mayor Sadiq Khan about dates and a later start time. Hearn said Sela and its partners want the fight to happen at Wembley, and that Sela is working with Netflix to secure the best possible venue for the broadcast. Joshua, for his part, has said he wants the parties to honor the existing contract, while Fury has agreed to the New York location as an alternative, per Spencer Brown's comment that Fury would fight Joshua in either England or New York.
Why a 2 A.M. Start Complicates Everything
The proposed overnight start time isn't just a scheduling quirk — it runs headlong into London's licensing and transit realities. Wembley Stadium's premises licence, granted by Brent Council to Wembley National Stadium Ltd, allows a maximum of three overnight events per year between 11 p.m. and 9 a.m., subject to strict residential noise controls, according to Box.Live. Both the mayor of London and Brent Council would need to extend the stadium's current 11 p.m. curfew, and the Wembley Safety Advisory Group would ultimately dictate that call.
Hearn estimated the chance of reaching an agreement to extend the Wembley curfew at 50 percent. Staging a main event between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. also creates severe transport headaches, with limited overnight service at Wembley Central and Wembley Stadium and Wembley Park, Night Tube services and buses identified as transport options, per a report from Boxing News 24. Promoters have contacted the mayor's office directly, and Khan has said London wants to host the fight, according to BBC Sport. According to the MTA, 34 St-Penn Station is the recommended subway stop for Madison Square Garden and nearby Midtown destinations.
Contracts, Addendums and a Frontrunner Emerges
Both fighters signed individual contracts in April 2026 stipulating the locations where the fight must take place, and Hearn has publicly stated that Joshua's contract specifies the United Kingdom. That clause gives Hearn leverage unless all parties formally agree to move the bout elsewhere. Joshua's promoter has sent Sela an addendum that would allow the fight to take place in New York. Madison Square Garden has nonetheless become the frontrunner venue amid the stalemate, even though organizers had also explored Las Vegas earlier in the process.
The financial and logistical gap between the two options is stark. Madison Square Garden holds roughly 20,000 spectators for boxing, while Wembley has a capacity of 90,000, according to Forbes. Joshua has fought at the Garden before, and it did not go well: on June 1, 2019, he was knocked down four times and stopped in the seventh round by Andy Ruiz Jr., a defeat The Guardian notes was one of the biggest upsets in modern heavyweight history.
A New York City Council announcement described a ten-year permit as the first step toward finding a new home for Madison Square Garden and building a Penn Station suitable for the 21st Century. A NYC environmental-review document says proposed arena wayfinding signs near Penn Station's two Eighth Avenue entrances were intended to orient and direct pedestrians. According to the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, the New York City Noise Code balances New York's reputation as a city that never sleeps with the needs of its residents. According to the MTA's General Project Plan dated 18 Feb 2021, the area is the focus of a comprehensive redevelopment initiative centered on a vastly improved New York Pennsylvania Station. According to the NYC Department of Transportation's 34th Street Transit Corridor Alternatives Analysis, 34th Street is one of the city's busiest pedestrian streets, serving people accessing the regional transit network at Penn Station.
Two Fighters With Something to Prove
Fury, 38, hasn't fought since dropping back-to-back decisions to Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh — a split decision loss in May 2024 followed by a unanimous decision defeat in December 2024 — which stripped him of his undefeated record and his WBC title, according to Wikipedia. Joshua's last fight came in July 2026, when he survived two first-round knockdowns before stopping Albanian heavyweight Kristian Prenga with a second-round knockout in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as reported by Al Jazeera.
Both men have London box-office pedigree that makes a Wembley return tempting. Joshua set the post-WWII European boxing attendance record there on September 21, 2024, when 98,128 fans watched his IBF world heavyweight title defense against Daniel Dubois, per Queensberry Promotions. Fury had held that mark before him, drawing more than 90,000 spectators to Wembley for his WBC title defense against Dillian Whyte.
The U.S. Prime-Time Pull
A U.S.-friendly time slot could help the fight reach American prime-time viewers. That preference is central to why Sela and its partners favor a U.S. venue in the first place: organizers believe global audience figures could be larger in a U.S. time zone than a London stadium show would draw on delayed broadcast.
For now, the fight remains without a locked-in date or venue, caught between London's civic pride and boxing tradition on one side and streaming economics on the other. Hearn's framing of the Wembley odds at a coin flip suggests the next round of talks with Sadiq Khan's office and the Wembley Safety Advisory Group could determine whether British fans get their record-chasing stadium spectacle or whether the sport's biggest domestic rivalry in years ends up decided under the lights of Madison Square Garden.
