Joshua, Fury to battle for WBA heavyweight title –Warren
A version of the WBA heavyweight title is set to be on the line when Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury battle it out in their long-awaited bout on December 11 in Cardiff.
According to Frank Warren, who is Tyson Fury’s promoter, the WBA belt is now on the line for the bout.
He said: “Yes, it’s on the line. They’ve [WBA] confirmed.
“Whoever wins that, they’ve got a version of the belt and the objective, after Usyk vacated all the belts, is to find out who’s the best, who’s going to hold all the belts, who’s going to be the No 1 heavyweight.
“I’m sure Usyk will be back in next year as well. It’s going to be really, really exciting times.
“These guys are all looking to unify the titles and get involved in massive, massive fights in 2027. We made it at Queensberry [Promotions] our mantra to make these fights happen. We’ve got three of the four heavyweight champions on our roster and we’re going to make unification fights next year.
“And it would be really, really good for the winner of Tyson and AJ to be involved in that. There are some fabulous fights to be made and the heavyweight division as I keep telling everybody is on fire. You’ve got some fabulous fights.
“[Dubois-Wardley] will set some big stuff up for the new year.”
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Murat Gassiev is listed as the WBA heavyweight champion on the governing body’s website. He won a version of the belt, the ‘regular’ title, in 2025, beating Kubrat Pulev.
Meanwhile, Dutch Kickboxer, Rico Verhoeven, has confirmed that he has agreed to fight Deontay Wilder in the undercard for the Fury vs Joshua bout.
He said: “After that fight [with Usyk], we got a bunch of offers from all different sides and directions, so that was good to see.
“We slowly took everything in and took a look at all the offers and opponents, and I’ve decided I am going to stay in boxing.
“We got an offer for the December 11 card. I can’t confirm just yet [that I will be on the card].
“What I can confirm is that they offered me a fight with Deontay Wilder, and I said yes.”
Verhoeven started his career as a kickboxer in 2004, but transitioned into Boxing in May when he challenged Oleksandr Usyk in Egypt.
He lost the bout by TKO in the 11th round due to a controversial stoppage by the referee, two judges scored the fight even 95–95, with the other judge scoring 96–94 in favor of Verhoeven.
