Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will fight for the WBA world heavyweight championship when they box on December 11, confirmed Frank Warren.

British rivals Fury and Joshua will meet in a long-awaited showdown at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff and now the WBA ‘super’ or primary title will be on the line.

It is a surprise move as the WBA already has a ‘regular’ titlist in Murat Gassiev who expected to be elevated to full champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt.

Both Fury and Joshua previously lost their world title belts to Usyk. Now they have the chance to reclaim a championship they have held in years gone by.

“That is the case at the moment. That’s going to be on the line,” Warren, who promotes Fury, told Sky Sports News.

“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.”

Warren is staging the Daniel Dubois vs Fabio Wardley rematch on Saturday for the WBO heavyweight title. He would like to put the Dubois-Wardley winner in with the Fury-Joshua victor next year.

“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,” Warren said.

“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.”

Dubois welcomes Fury or AJ

WBO heavyweight champion Dubois told Sky Sports News: “If they feed me one of them [Fury or AJ], I’ll fight them. Nice appetiser. I’m ready for whoever they throw at me after this.

“I’ll gladly take on the winner of that. I will stake my claim and take on the world, the belts and everything else that comes along with it.”