How to Watch: Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov

When is Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov?

Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov is on Saturday, April 11. The broadcast will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern Time (7 p.m. BST). 

What channel is Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov on?

Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov will stream on Netflix.

Where is Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov?

The fight is taking place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England.

Who is Tyson Fury?

Tyson Fury, 34-2-1 (24 KOs), is a former heavyweight champion returning from a retirement that few believed was going to last, given how many times he’d supposedly retired before.

Fury most recently stepped away in January 2025 following his two defeats – the only losses in his professional career – against Oleksandr Usyk in a pair of huge events in 2024. The first loss, via split decision, left Fury without his WBC title and ended his reign as the lineal champion. Usyk won even more clearly in the rematch, taking a unanimous decision.

Fury, a resident of Morecambe, England, rose to prominence in the previous decade. Fury was named after Mike Tyson, and if that wasn’t enough, the late Emanuel Steward predicted that Fury would become a superstar. The torch officially passed when Fury befuddled one of Steward’s prized pupils, longtime heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, dethroning him in 2015, about three years after Steward’s death.

But Fury then spent the next three and a half years out of the ring as he dealt with a combination of issues. There was a positive test for a performance-enhancing drug from a bout prior to Klitschko – Fury blamed the consumption of wild boar meat – as well as struggles with addiction and mental health. Fury ballooned in weight. His comeback seemed improbable.

And yet in 2018, Fury returned, picked up two victories and then stepped in with WBC titleholder Deontay Wilder. Fury boxed well, but he still got dropped twice by one of the hardest punchers in the sport’s history. The second knockdown, in the 12th round, seemed to leave Fury unconscious. Somehow he awoke, just barely beat the count, and even landed some heavy blows of his own during the remainder of the round. The bout ended in a draw.

Fury and Wilder had their rematch in February 2020. This time, Fury vowed that he would be the aggressor rather than the boxer. It seemed madness, yet it proved to be brilliant. He dominated Wilder and stopped him in the seventh round to take the WBC belt. Their next fight would wrap up the rivalry 19 months later. It was a back-and-forth affair in which both men hit the canvas multiple times, but Fury again ended things within the distance, finishing Wilder in the 11th.

Fury’s next defenses saw him stop Dillian Whyte and do the same to Derek Chisora to wrap up their needless trilogy. He then barely took a split decision over Francis Ngannou, an MMA star making his boxing debut, in October 2023. That performance looked even worse when Anthony Joshua went on to make short work of Ngannou.

Given that the only person to beat Fury so far is Usyk, he could have spent 2025 proving that he was still the second-best heavyweight in the world. He’s seemingly returning for money as well as for unfinished business; Fury was expected to take on fellow British heavyweight superstar Anthony Joshua later this year. That mega-event is understandably in limbo while Joshua recovers psychologically from surviving a tragic car crash that killed two of his close friends.

There are plenty of other lucrative options available for Fury even if the Joshua fight isn’t yet. First he needs to get by Arslanbek Makhmudov in this huge show on Netflix. Fury has come back from long layoffs before. He’s older now, though, four months shy of his 38th birthday. Does he have enough left to compete against the big-name heavyweights? And just as important, does Makhmudov have what it takes to test him?

Who is Arslanbek Makhmudov?

Arslanbek Makhmudov, 21-2 (19 KOs), is a 36-year-old heavyweight from Russia who fights out of Montreal, Canada. He stands 6-foot-5½ and often weighs in the 260s. 

Makhmudov won his first 18 bouts, all but one by knockout, but was taken out in the fourth round by Agit Kabayel in December 2023. While there’s little shame in losing to Kabayel – who is now seen as one of the top heavyweight contenders – it did demonstrate where Makhmudov stood in the pecking order.

His second defeat dropped him even further. In August 2024, Makhmudov was stopped in the eighth round by the 12-2-1 Guido Vianello due to a badly swollen left eye.

There have been two confidence-boosters since then. Makhmudov made quick work of the 12-0 Ricardo Brown last June, dispatching him in less than two minutes. And he went 12 rounds for the first time in October, clearly outpointing the limited but entertaining David Allen. Makhmudov is ranked No. 5 by the WBA and No. 14 by the IBF.

Makhmudov was chosen for Fury’s comeback for a reason. He has size but is still shorter and lighter than Fury, who is listed at 6-foot-9 and often weighs in the 270s and 280s. And so long as Fury still has some of the skill that made him the heavyweight champion, he shouldn’t have too much difficulty with Makhmudov in what is a spotlight bout on Netflix.

What other fights are on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov?

The co-feature will see Conor Benn, 24-1 (14 KOs), returning from splitting his two-fight series last year against Chris Eubank Jnr. Benn will face Regis Prograis, 30-3 (24 KOs), a former junior welterweight titleholder whose last three outings were a shutout loss to Devin Haney, a clear decision defeat to Jack Catterall, and a unanimous decision over Joseph Diaz Jnr.

There are two other notable heavyweight bouts on the undercard. One pits a pair of Fabio Wardley’s past KO victims against each other: Justis Huni, 12-1 (7 KOs), and Frazer Clarke, 9-2-1 (7 KOs). In the other, Jeamie “TKV” Tshikeva, 9-2 (5 KOs), will look to build on his split decision victory over Clarke last November. Tshikeva’s foe is Richard Riakporhe, 19-1 (15 KOs), a former cruiserweight contender who moved up after a rematch loss to Chris Billam-Smith in 2024.

The full list of undercard fights can be seen on BoxRec.

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.