Eddie Hearn said that his client Anthony Joshua’s next fight could be against official IBF contender Kubrat Pulev. The promoter also revealed that Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could be the arena for the next clash.
Eddie Hearn on Joshua future
After defeating Andy Ruiz, Joshua has now regained the IBF, WBO, and WBA titles. The champion is facing mega clashes with Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, but before that, he must face either the IBF’s main contender Kubrat Pulev or the WBO’s number one – Oleksandr Usyk.
Anthony Joshua’s next fight should take place in April or May 2020 and Eddie Hearn has already held discussions with Tottenham Hotspur about using their 60 000-capacity stadium.
“Tottenham is a nice new stadium for a UK fight, we’ve got to look at it. There are a lot of options internationally but he does want to box back in the UK.”, Hearn said.
“We spoke to Spurs about hosting this fight, which they were keen to do, but unfortunately the dates didn’t work out. They would be keen to do it and it would be a nice stadium to do it in London.”
Joshua fought in his homeland for the last time in September 2018 when he knocked out Aleksander Povetkin at Wembley. The 30-year old boxer is now looking forward to fighting in England again.
“It would be mega – looking at how many people came out here shows there is still a big interest in the heavyweight division, especially now we are taking the belts back.”, Joshua said.
“To defend them on home soil would be big news. Sometimes it would be better against a Brit, but if not I follow the mandatories and defend them that way.”
And regarding who Joshua will fight next, Eddie Hearn said it’s probably going to be Kubrat Pulev.
“It’s going to have to be quite quickly, because obviously now the vultures will be out, as I would be. I don’t blame them,” he said.
“I’ve got to speak to the IBF and the WBO and see who goes first. I think it sounds like it’s the IBF, but we’ll wait for confirmation of that. AJ will want to maintain the belts and if that’s the case, I think it will be Pulev, and then Usyk.”
“I think April or May, that’s a realistic kind of date [for Joshua’s next fight].”
Kubrat Pulev and Anthony Joshua were already set to fight back in 2017 but the Bulgarian withdrew due to injury. The 37-year old Bulgarian has only lost once in his career (29-1) – against Wladimir Klitschko in 2014.
