Tyson Fury has no beef with Ben Davison. His former head trainer will be working Anthony Joshua’s corner when the two British heavyweights finally share a ring on Dec. 11, and Fury is treating it like a coach taking a better job offer, which is roughly what it is.
Fury addressed the Davison situation in comments reported Monday by Boxing News Online and The Mirror. The gist: no ill will toward the man who used to stand behind him between rounds, and a shrug toward the reality that boxing is a business and trainers go where the work is.
That’s a calmer answer than you might expect from Fury, a guy who can turn a weigh-in into a three-act play. It also matters on fight night. Any time a fighter’s old head trainer crosses over to the opponent’s camp, the obvious angle is what he knows: the habits, the tells, the way a guy looks when he’s tired and won’t admit it. Joshua’s team now has someone in the room who used to run Fury’s corner. Fury seems unbothered by that, at least publicly.
View post on X
The Dec. 11 Card
The Fury vs. Joshua main event has dragged plenty of side drama along with it. Further down the bill, Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia moves up to heavyweight to face former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. Fury wasn’t thrilled about Wilder landing on his undercard, calling it “a dying shame,” per Bloody Elbow.
Wilder, who turned 41 last month, has been busy outside the gym too. He launched a podcast called Heavyweight Truth with Dana White as his first guest, and the episode went viral after Wilder asked the UFC CEO to rate his bedroom energy on a scale of 0 to 10. White answered.
Then there’s the promoter fight. Eddie Hearn has insisted White has no involvement in the main event, while White says he has a hand in promoting and producing the show, according to MMA Fighting. White also brushed off a reported $10 million Misfits Boxing offer for him and Hearn to box each other, then offered a cheaper alternative while speaking to All Out Fighting after a Zuffa Boxing event in London.
“If Eddie Hearn wants to fight, he can pick the gym here in London,” White said.
View post on X
Joshua has drawn crowds that size before. His fight with Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium in 2024 pulled in more than 98,000 fans, according to Bloody Elbow, which tells you the kind of number this one is chasing.
My take: Fury is handling this exactly right. Trainers have mortgages, and Davison doesn’t owe Fury a lifetime of loyalty for past work. Fury could have played the betrayal card for a week of headlines and chose to answer the question plainly instead. I respect that more than another round of trash talk. On Dec. 11, Davison will be in the opposite corner, and Fury will find out in real time how much his old coach remembers.
