All is now set for a battle royale between Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev, the British heavyweight champion on December 2, Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn confirmed.
After winning back his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles against Andy Ruiz Jr, Joshua was to face either Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder.
But Pulev is the IBF’s mandatory challenger and Joshua must fight him first before looking at a potential blockbuster bout against Wilder or Fury.
A fight against Pulev was originally pencilled for June 20 at the state-of-the-art Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, the coronavirus pandemic led to the bout being cancelled.
Hearn has since created a new-look boxing event in post-lockdown, which is being hosted in his own back garden.
No fans are able to attend the Matchroom Fight Camp though and the boxing promoter knows the setting won’t be fit for a fight including Joshua.
The 30-year-old has always sold out arenas wherever he’s fought and Hearn is hopeful of hosting Joshua’s fight against Pulev at London’s O2 arena with fingers crossed spectators will be allowed in.
“We know AJ’s only going to fight once this year, so we want to give ourselves the best opportunity to bring in a crowd, and that would obviously be the later the better,” Hearn told ESPN.
“But it’s still not a gimme at all
(Express)
