Dana White vs Eddie Hearn: the six-month row over Fury vs Joshua, and how it ended

Dana White said he would promote Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua and hinted at New York in November. It landed in Cardiff in December, and Eddie Hearn says White "cannot be involved".

Tyson Fury against Anthony Joshua was confirmed on Thursday for 11 December in Cardiff. Getting there took six months of insults between the UFC president, Dana White, and Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, over who would run the biggest British fight in years and where it would be held.

April: the call-out. At a press conference on 12 April, White turned on Hearn. "Eddie Hearn's a p*ssy. Eddie Hearn ain't boxing anybody, f*cking posting pictures of himself hitting the f*cking speed bag", he said, and added that Turki Alalshikh had offered him a fight with Hearn. A week later Hearn accepted, then said: "Unfortunately, Dana White backed out the fight."

May and June: "I'm promoting that". On a podcast on 8 May, White said: "I'm doing the Tyson Fury AJ fight too. I'm promoting that." Asked in June about a contract clause barring his Zuffa Boxing company, he answered: "Do you think that I would publicly lie? And then look like a f*cking idiot in front of everybody?" Hearn's reply on 11 June was blunt: "Dana White, TKO, Zuffa, or anybody associated will not be the promoter of that show... He's either completely deluded, or the biggest compulsive liar I've ever met in my life." Hearn said the contract required the fight to be in the UK if Joshua and Matchroom wanted it there.

August: New York. Asked on 19 August about reports of Fury against Joshua on 20 November at Madison Square Garden, White told reporters: "We finally found out where the venue is... If that's what the word is, then that must be it." He added: "I stopped listening to Eddie Hearn about three months ago."

September: "It'll be me". On 6 September Hearn accused unnamed rivals of trying "to lure Anthony Joshua into an American fight" and said they would be "served with a legal letter". Four days later White told IFL TV that if the fight happened, "It'll be me" promoting it, and warned: "If it happens in the U.K., there's a lot less money involved in the fight."

Thursday: Cardiff. The fight went to the UK. The official announcement said The Ring and White would work together on the promotion. Hearn was not having it. "We expect the contracts to be honoured and unless we decide otherwise, Dana White cannot be involved in the fight", he told The Independent, as reported by Boxing News.

The fighters face each other at a launch press conference in London next week. Whether White is on the stage may be the first sign of who won the argument.

The announcement: Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua confirmed for 11 December in Cardiff. The reactions: Fury vs Joshua reactions.