Hearn: Need to Speak to the Governing Bodies

Hearn Speaks on Joshua’s Next Opponent

Now that Anthony “AJ” Joshua (23-1, 21 KO’s) has righted the course of his career by recapturing his belts from Andy Ruiz Jr (33-2, 22 KO’s), he can look toward the future again. Without question, the boxing public would want to see Joshua face WBC world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KO’s).

A fight between the two would result in one undisputed heavyweight champion. Unfortunately, Joshua will first have to satisfy his mandatory obligations before any undisputed match can transpire. Currently, Kubrat “The Cobra” Pulev (28-1, 14 KO’s) and Oleksandr Usyk (17-0, 13 KO’s) are the leading candidates for securing a fight with Joshua. Of those two, Pulev appears to be at the front of the race.

In an interview conducted by Sky Sports, Anthony Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, spoke on who was likely to be next and what was being done to identify their next challenger.

“Well I think we need to speak to the governing bodies and establish historically in the rotation system who is next. I do believe it’s the IBF, in which case we’ll have to fight Kubrat Pulev next. But also, AJ loves the Usyk fight as well. In the meantime, Usyk might be fighting [Dereck] Chisora at the end of February, early March. The winner of that fight could fight AJ for the mandatory after that. At the same time he [AJ] really badly wants the undisputed fight.”

3kingsboxing will stay on top of this fascinating heavyweight battle for supremacy and report all the latest developments.

By: Bakari Simpson