Winstone, Calzaghe and Lauren Price: Some of Cardiff’s Greatest Fight Nights – Now Fury v Joshua is Next
IT is official. Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will finally meet in the ring at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Friday, 11 December, 2026.
Just 24 hours after Ewegottalove looked back at some of Cardiff’s greatest fight nights and asked whether Fury v Joshua could be next, confirmation has arrived that one of British boxing’s most eagerly awaited contests is coming to the Welsh capital.
The Principality Stadium confirmed the news on Thursday afternoon following weeks of negotiations, with the huge all-British heavyweight showdown set to be streamed live around the world on Netflix.
And this will not be an ordinary Friday night in Cardiff. Such is the international interest in the fight that the main event is expected to take place in the early hours of Saturday morning, following a full evening of boxing beneath the Principality Stadium roof.
Fury and Joshua have dominated the British heavyweight conversation for more than a decade but, remarkably, have never fought each other professionally. That changes in Cardiff on December 11.
The full undercard and precise start time have yet to be announced, while Fury and Joshua are due to come face-to-face at the first official press conference in London on September 30.
So the question we asked yesterday has been answered.
Cardiff has staged world-title fights in football grounds, international rugby stadiums and arenas. Welsh heroes have been cheered by tens of thousands, heavyweight champions have fought beneath the city lights and some of British boxing’s most memorable nights have unfolded in the Welsh capital.
Winstone. Lewis. Bruno. Calzaghe. Joshua. Price. And now Fury v Joshua.
Cardiff is preparing for another enormous night of boxing.
So before Fury and Joshua write another chapter, Ewegottalove takes a look back at some of Cardiff’s greatest fight nights.
Howard Winstone v Vicente Saldivar
Ninian Park, 1967
Long before retractable roofs and giant stadium video screens, Ninian Park provided the setting for one of the most eagerly anticipated fights in Welsh boxing history.
Merthyr Tydfil’s Howard Winstone challenged brilliant Mexican world featherweight champion Vicente Saldivar on 15 June, 1967.
It was their second meeting.
Winstone had already pushed Saldivar desperately close at Earls Court in 1965 and now had home advantage, with around 30,000 people packed into Cardiff City’s ground hoping to see a Welsh world champion crowned.
The atmosphere was enormous.
Winstone boxed superbly but, after another exhausting 15-round contest, Saldivar was again awarded the decision. Winstone believed he had done enough, but accepted the verdict with characteristic dignity.
The world title would eventually come his way the following year.
But that night at Ninian Park remains one of Welsh boxing’s great occasions.
Lennox Lewis v Frank Bruno
Cardiff Arms Park, 1993
Fast forward 26 years and Cardiff was hosting a very different world heavyweight contest.
On 1 October, 1993, Lennox Lewis defended his WBC heavyweight championship against Frank Bruno at the old National Stadium at Cardiff Arms Park.
It was billed as the Battle of Britain.
Bruno was one of Britain’s most popular sportsmen. Lewis was the champion, Olympic gold medallist and emerging force in the heavyweight division.
Around 28,000 spectators were there as Bruno produced an excellent start and caused Lewis considerable problems.
But Lewis eventually found the decisive punches, stopping Bruno in the seventh round.
The occasion also demonstrated something Cardiff would repeatedly prove in subsequent decades: put a major boxing event into a Welsh sporting stadium and the crowd will provide an atmosphere of its own.
The stadium where Lewis and Bruno fought has gone.
What stands on the site today?
The Principality Stadium.
Joe Calzaghe v Peter Manfredo Jr
Millennium Stadium, 2007
By 2007, Welsh boxing had another superstar.
Joe Calzaghe, the undefeated world super-middleweight champion from Newbridge, had spent years establishing himself among the best fighters in the world.
On 7 April, 2007, he finally got the chance to headline a huge stadium occasion in Wales.
More than 35,000 spectators packed into the Millennium Stadium to watch Calzaghe defend his WBO crown against American Peter Manfredo Jr, who had become well known to US audiences through the television series The Contender.
Calzaghe overwhelmed him.
The referee stopped the contest in the third round as the Welshman unleashed a barrage of punches.
The fight itself may not have become a classic, but the occasion proved beyond doubt that major stadium boxing could work in Cardiff.
The official attendance was 35,018, then described by the stadium as Europe’s biggest indoor boxing crowd.
Seven months later, they did it again.
Only much bigger.
Joe Calzaghe v Mikkel Kessler
Millennium Stadium, 2007
If Cardiff has produced one truly great modern boxing night, Calzaghe v Kessler has a very strong claim.
Both men were undefeated.
Calzaghe brought his WBO super-middleweight title and a 43–0 professional record.
Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler arrived with the WBA and WBC belts and his own perfect 39–0 record.
Something had to give.
More than 50,000 spectators packed the Millennium Stadium on 3 November 2007, creating an extraordinary atmosphere beneath the closed roof.
And Calzaghe delivered.
Over 12 absorbing rounds he outboxed one of the best opponents of his career, winning a unanimous decision and unifying the super-middleweight division.
Kessler would later recall hearing the Welsh crowd while having his hands wrapped deep inside the stadium and wondering what on earth he had walked into.
There is an interesting connection with the Fury–Joshua clash.
Calzaghe and Kessler did not begin their fight until well after midnight because of American television schedules.
So if talk of a very late Fury–Joshua ring walk seemed unprecedented, Cardiff has been there before.
Anthony Joshua v Carlos Takam
Principality Stadium, 2017
A decade later it was the heavyweight division’s turn.
By October 2017, Anthony Joshua was one of world boxing’s biggest attractions.
The Olympic champion had defeated Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 people at Wembley and arrived in Cardiff holding the IBF and WBA heavyweight titles.
His scheduled opponent Kubrat Pulev withdrew through injury, leaving Carlos Takam to accept the challenge at short notice.
It did little to dampen enthusiasm.
Around 78,000 people descended on the Principality Stadium.
Joshua eventually stopped the tough Cameroon-born challenger in the 10th round, although Takam’s durability earned considerable admiration.
For Cardiff, the significance was obvious.
The city was no longer simply capable of staging big boxing nights.
It could stage some of the biggest boxing nights anywhere in the world.
Anthony Joshua v Joseph Parker
Principality Stadium, 2018
Joshua returned just five months later. This time there was even more at stake.
On 31 March 2018 he faced unbeaten New Zealander Joseph Parker in a heavyweight unification contest. Joshua held the WBA and IBF titles. Parker brought the WBO belt.
For the first time in his professional career, Joshua was taken the full distance.
He won comfortably on the scorecards, adding Parker’s WBO crown to his collection and moving another step towards becoming undisputed heavyweight champion.
Eight years later, the prospect of Joshua returning to the same stadium to face Tyson Fury brings the story almost full circle.
Lauren Price v Jessica McCaskill
Utilita Arena, 2024
Cardiff’s great fight nights have not belonged exclusively to the men.
On 11 May 2024, Wales welcomed Olympic champion Lauren Price home for her first professional world-title challenge.
The setting was Cardiff’s Utilita Arena.
The opponent was experienced American champion Jessica McCaskill.
Price produced a superb performance.
When the contest was stopped on medical advice at the beginning of the ninth round because of an eye injury suffered by McCaskill, the judges’ scorecards confirmed a dominant victory.
Price became the first Welsh woman to win a professional boxing world title, claiming the WBA, IBO and Ring Magazine welterweight crowns in only her seventh professional contest.
It was another landmark Welsh boxing night — just on a more intimate scale.
And perhaps that is part of Cardiff’s boxing appeal.
The city has seen 30,000 at Ninian Park.
Twenty-eight thousand at the old Arms Park.
More than 50,000 watching Joe Calzaghe.
Nearly 80,000 watching Anthony Joshua.
And a packed arena celebrating Lauren Price making Welsh sporting history.
Fury v Joshua: Cardiff gets its next great fight night
For years, Tyson Fury v Anthony Joshua has been the fight British boxing supporters have wanted to see.
Negotiations started, stalled and restarted. Venues from Wembley to New York were discussed.
Now Cardiff, which had moved to the front of the queue, has been confirmed.
There are practical reasons.
The Principality Stadium has a retractable roof, making a December contest realistic regardless of the Welsh weather. It has already proved itself capable of staging huge boxing events, and its city-centre location creates an atmosphere unlike most major stadium venues.
It can also accommodate the unusually late start required for a global Netflix audience. Earlier this year the stadium told Sky Sports that it would be delighted to host Fury against Joshua and pointed to its history of staging major boxing beneath the closed roof.
Fury and Joshua will not be creating Cardiff’s reputation as a fight city.
They will simply be adding their names to it.
Winstone. Lewis. Bruno. Calzaghe. Joshua. Price… before 2026 is finished, Cardiff boxing history will have two more names to add to the list.
Did Ewe Know?
Joe Calzaghe’s connection with Cardiff’s big fight nights began long before he filled the Millennium Stadium. His professional debut took place on the undercard of Lennox Lewis v Frank Bruno at Cardiff Arms Park in 1993. Fourteen years later, Calzaghe would return to essentially the same site and headline in front of more than 50,000 people.