Explained: Why Tyson Fury says his next fight won't be on TV

ESPN · Jul 21, 2026 07:33 · 3 min read

Explained: Why Tyson Fury says his next fight won't be on TV

Everything you need to know about Tyson Fury's fight against Mariusz Wach in Thailand on Friday.

Tyson Fury has said that his next fight, on Friday against Mariusz Wach, will not be broadcast on television.

Fury will step back into the ring to face Wach in Thailand, the day before Anthony Joshua fights Kristian Prenga in Saudi Arabia. Fury and Joshua are heavily favoured to win this week en route to their planned mega-fight against each other.

But Fury's warm-up against Wach could go largely unnoticed.

Why won't Fury vs. Wach be on TV?

Fury announced: "This great fight will not be streamed live! It will only be broadcast on my hit Netflix TV show 'At Home With The Furys' season three."

Netflix have partnered with Fury for two seasons of the reality show which shows his family life outside of the boxing ring. Netflix also broadcasted his most recent fight against Arslanbek Makhmudov, and are also set to show his planned clash with Joshua.

It is hugely uncommon for a boxer of Fury's fame and magnitude to box in an untelevised bout. TV deals are part of the boxing ecosystem which has historically paid Fury extremely handsomely.

Part of the motivation appears to be a sincere wish to remain active and on a similar timeframe to Joshua, who will fight a day later, so their schedules align later in the year.

"He doesn't want to be waiting," promoter Frank Warren has said. "Otherwise he'll be out of the ring for nearly eight months again and he doesn't want that. He wants to keep busy."

If Joshua is taking a warm-up fight, against Prenga on Saturday, before facing Fury then it is inevitable that Fury would want to do the same. It seems an untelevised bout on Friday in Thailand is his best method to achieving this.

ESPN have reached out to Queensberry Promotions but haven't received a response yet.

Why is Fury fighting in Thailand?

Thailand is not a common destination for the world's big-name fighters.

Only 1,500 tickets will be available at the Max Muay Thai stadium in Pattaya, Fury has said.

However, Thailand makes perfect sense for Fury because he has spent the past few months training there. He got in shape to defeat Makmudov from a training camp in Thailand which included his sons and nephews.

Fury says he will donate the profits from ticket sales to "local starving and homeless children."

He added: "It's a beautiful thing I'm able to do here giving back to a great cause."

The WBC plan to award a special belt to the winner of Fury vs. Wach.

Why has Wach been chosen as Fury's opponent?

Joshua is fighting Prenga, a little-known contender from Albania whose most recent fight was an eight-rounder against an opponent with 14 previous losses. Fury, similarly, wants to take few risks with his choice of opponent so he doesn't jeopardise the planned Joshua fight.

Poland's Wach is 46 years old. A decade ago, when his only losses were in a world heavyweight title fight to Wladimir Klitschko and against Alexander Povetkin, he would have represented a respectable foe.

He has since lost 11 of his last 17 fights with his conquerors including Hughie Fury (Tyson's cousin), Dillian Whyte, Frazer Clarke and Moses Itauma. His past seven fights have been scheduled for fewer than 12 rounds.