Tickets for the highly anticipated all-British heavyweight showdown between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium sold out within an hour of going on sale, with the most expensive seats priced at more than £13,000.
Approximately 80,000 tickets became available at noon BST on Friday, but demand quickly overwhelmed the online booking system. Within minutes, more than 500,000 people were reportedly waiting in the virtual queue. The highest-priced tickets cost £13,128, including booking fees, while the cheapest were listed at £88.50.
The December contest will be broadcast globally on Netflix, with the main event expected to begin in the early hours of Saturday, December 12, despite the fight card starting on Friday, December 11.
Tickets also appeared on resale platforms shortly after the official sale began. Some ringside VIP seats were advertised for as much as £73,645, while upper-tier tickets were listed for around £425. Organisers expect the fighters to make their ringwalks at approximately 01:00 GMT on Saturday, following a short live music performance. The stadium is scheduled to remain open until 03:30.
The event is being promoted through a collaboration involving Saudi boxing promoter Turki Alalshikh’s The Ring and UFC chief Dana White. However, organisers have yet to announce the undercard bouts.
Long-Awaited Heavyweight Showdown
Fury, 38, and Joshua, 36, are both former two-time world champions who have signed contracts for the long-awaited contest. Although the bout was announced in September, the date and venue had remained unconfirmed until recently. London’s Wembley Stadium and New York’s Madison Square Garden were among the potential locations before Cardiff emerged as the preferred option.
The Principality Stadium has previously hosted major boxing events featuring late-night starts. Joe Calzaghe’s November 2007 fight against Mikkel Kessler, for example, began at approximately 01:00 GMT. Similarly, Ricky Hatton’s 2005 victory over Kostya Tszyu at Manchester’s MEN Arena began at around 02:00 local time, allowing American broadcaster Showtime to air the contest on Saturday evening.
The rapid sell-out and the steep resale prices underline the enormous commercial interest surrounding Fury and Joshua’s meeting, which brings together two of Britain’s most prominent heavyweight boxers.
