Luke Littler has spat his dummy out after the Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua fight was scheduled for the same night as the World Darts Championship opener.
The 19-year-old defending champion will play in the curtain raiser of darts’ biggest tournament on December 11 at Alexandra Palace in London.
But Joshua and Fury’s much-anticipated event will take place on the same night at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
In reality the two will only do their ring walks at around 2am on December 12, in order to accommodate an American audience, while Littler would be in action well before midnight.
But The Nuke, a big boxing fan, fumed on Instagram: ‘A message to the Hearns (promoters): what is this?
‘Opening night of the World Championship (world champion plays on opening night 11th December) and you put one of the biggest fights in Britain on the same night.
Luke Littler has hit out at Eddie Hearn over the Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury fight scheduling
‘You had one job’ said Littler as he vented in front of his 2.1 million Instagram followers
He then backtracked and claimed he had been joking after receiving a negative reaction
‘You had one job.’
A couple of hours later, having received a negative reaction, he added: ‘Why’s everyone so sensitive it’s literally a JOKE cmon guys.’
At least the bout does not coincide with the final of the tournament in early January, when Littler will be hoping to make it three world titles in a row.
He has won more than £3.1million in prize money over the past couple of years according to the Professional Darts Corporation Order of Merit – but that sum is dwarfed by what Joshua and Fury are set to bank.
It is understood each man will pocket around £75m for arguably the biggest bout to be staged on British soil after Joshua’s team, led by Eddie Hearn, succeeded in forcing the promotion’s Saudi backers to scrap plans to stage the showdown in New York.
Hearn initially pushed for Wembley Stadium, but the combination of a roof over the Principality Stadium and the Welsh government’s willingness to bend their late-night curfew swung the fight towards Cardiff.
The ring walk is expected to take place around 2am to suit a US-based audience, in line with the demands of Netflix, which will broadcast the heavyweight showdown.
Although the delivery of the fight in Wales will be positioned as a victory for British fight fans, pragmatism around tax was also a key consideration in Hearn’s argument against Madison Square Garden in New York.
The roots of Joshua-Fury stretch back more than a decade, to when both men were emerging as Britain’s leading heavyweight prospects
Cardiff’s Principality Stadium has come out on top to host the fight after weeks of negotiations
As Daily Mail Sport revealed earlier this month, the two fighters would have been taxed around 30 per cent of their purses in America, compared to 20 per cent in the UK, with Joshua particularly unhappy about the prospect of an extra £7.5m being added to his bill. The two-time world champion instead demanded that his contract be honoured, which stipulated a British-based fight.
Boxing supremo Turki Alalshikh said: ‘Back in April, I said that any announcement would come from me. I can now confirm that Fury Vs Joshua will be coming to the UK, as I promised British boxing fans.
‘The time for talking is over. Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua. Years in the making. One night to settle it. December 11th. LIVE on Netflix.’
Netflix confirmed on Thursday the fight would be available ‘at no additional cost’ to subscribers. Their general membership pricing starts at £7.99 a month in the UK.
Joshua tweeted: ‘I am inspiring a generation,’ alongside an emoji of the British flag.
His promoter Hearn, who fought relentlessly to keep the fight in the UK, wrote: ‘WE DID IT. Forever indebted to the U.K. public for their support of Anthony Joshua. We couldn’t have got this over the line without you.’
Fury’s name appearing first on the card for the Battle of Britain will be an early win for the Gypsy King in his constant PR war with Joshua.
The pair had originally been pencilled in to fight on November 20 at Madison Square Garden in New York, but a determined push from Joshua and Hearn saw the contracts re-negotiated to bring the fight back to British soil.
Hearn had been adamant that British fans deserved the opportunity to watch two of the country’s biggest sporting stars go head-to-head at home, and fought hard to make that happen.
Fury, too, wanted the fight in the UK, but had been prepared to accept a move to America because of his concerns that the bout could once again slip away.
