Report: Fury vs Joshua to be fought for WBA 'Super' heavyweight title

Mike Coppinger of The Ring is reported to have told colleagues that the Fury–Joshua fight will be contested for the WBA 'Super' heavyweight title. Boxing News published Coppinger’s report and quoted his line that both Fury and Joshua will be aiming to regain heavyweight titles, while adding that Usyk remains The Ring champion and Murat Gassiev holds the WBA 'regular' crown. Boxing Ring News has not independently verified the WBA 'Super' claim and is treating the matter as reported rather than confirmed.

Boxing News reports that the meeting between Fury and Joshua has been officially confirmed for Friday 11 December at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, with the event to be shown live on Netflix. The pair have been linked for more than a decade and the confirmation of the date, venue and global broadcast provider sets the stage for one of the most anticipated domestic heavyweight encounters in recent years. The report attributes the WBA title detail to The Ring’s reporting rather than to the fight’s organisers or sanctioning body.

The reported decision to put the WBA 'Super' title on the line follows a series of changes among the heavyweight belts. The source material notes Tyson Fury lost the WBC heavyweight title to Oleksandr Usyk in May 2024, while Anthony Joshua’s unified WBA, IBF and WBO belts were taken by Usyk in September 2021. Usyk later became undisputed champion but is said to have vacated his remaining titles earlier this year; the report links that vacating to the availability of the WBA 'Super' designation for the Fury–Joshua fight. Usyk is also described in the report as remaining The Ring champion.

According to the reporting, Murat Gassiev is the current holder of the WBA 'regular' heavyweight title. The material supplied states Gassiev won the WBA Regular title with a knockout of Kubrat Pulev in December and subsequently defended it against Peter Kadiru in July. It was initially believed the WBA had elevated Gassiev to full champion following Usyk’s vacating of his belts, but the new report suggests the winner of Fury vs Joshua would instead take the 'Super' designation while Gassiev remains 'regular'. This interpretation of the WBA hierarchy is presented as the report’s conclusion; Boxing Ring News has not independently confirmed the sanctioning body's position.