Two posts on Mike Coppinger’s X account on Friday ignited confusion among boxing fans, suggesting potential replacements for the stalled Fury-Joshua bout, including Crawford-Garcia and Fury-Benavidez.
The initial post indicated Fury-Joshua might collapse, with Crawford-Garcia as a backup, followed by a second post listing Fury-Benavidez as an alternative. Neither pairing has been verified, and The Ring had not commented on the posts by Friday evening.
Coppinger outlined the breakdown in heavyweight negotiations directly on X:
“Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua could be called off due to issues, according to sources, and a replacement fight between Terence Crawford and Ryan Garcia is being considered.
Another possibility: Tyson Fury-David Benavidez.”
Either Coppinger’s account was compromised by a troll, or promoters are feeding him unfiltered fantasy matchmaking.
Suggesting Fury face Benavidez is absurd. Benavidez only recently moved to cruiserweight; jumping straight to heavyweight against a 270-pound, six-foot-nine fighter makes no boxing or physical sense and belongs in the bargain bin of panic-driven rumors.
This reveals the entire Cardiff December 11th date is in freefall. Organizers went from saving Fury-Joshua to pitching Crawford-Garcia at welterweight, then suddenly throwing Benavidez into the heavyweight mix, exposing outright chaos behind the scenes.
Someone in the promotional room is throwing darts at a roster board hoping something sticks. Coppinger tweeting this without laughing suggests either total access-broker compliance or a hijacked phone.
No contracts exist for a substitute bout, but organizers entertaining Crawford-Garcia proves Fury-Joshua is on life support. British promoters drag out negotiations until the event unravels, and Cardiff fans booked hotels for a domestic battle.
Fans might be offered a freak-show mismatch. Ryan destroyed Conor Benn in two rounds to win the WBC welterweight title, while Crawford retired last December after campaigning at super middleweight. Crawford walks around bigger, with superior technical skills and an iron chin.
Dragging Ryan into a ring with an elite 168-pound fighter borders on malpractice. Turki Alalshikh has toyed with the idea, but paying both men enough to ignore the weight disparity requires exorbitant funds. Staging Crawford vs. Ryan in Wales makes zero promotional sense.
British ticket buyers bought into a decade of heavyweight drama and have no interest in paying premium prices to watch two Americans settle an artificial catchweight experiment. Organizers must stop floating absurd backup options and force heavyweights to sign, or refund the public.
American boxing fans would prefer Crawford vs. Ryan over Fury vs. Joshua any day. Fury and Joshua have spent five years boring the public with broken promises and manufactured drama, and Stateside fans stopped caring about their stale feud ages ago.
Dropping Crawford and Ryan into Cardiff never made sense. Welsh fans bought tickets to see two British heavyweights collide, not an all-American blockbuster flown across the Atlantic.
Moving the event to New York solves the problem overnight. Madison Square Garden or Barclays Center would sell out in minutes. Ryan is the biggest draw in American boxing, fresh off demolishing Benn in two rounds. Putting Ryan against Crawford in the fight capital gives the US audience a massive pay-per-view spectacle in prime time.
New York athletic commissions know how to run giant events on short notice. Promoters would get full houses, high gate receipts, and ideal broadcast hours instead of forcing US viewers to watch an afternoon snoozer from the UK. If Fury and Joshua blow up their Cardiff date, bringing Crawford and Ryan to Manhattan is the only logical move.
