Eddie Hearn reveals plans for Anthony Joshua fighting for the undisputed heavyweight title
Eddie Hearn wants Anthony Joshua to become a three-time world champion and has revealed his plans for it.
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Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn (image credit- Marca)
The heavyweight category in boxing is currently in an excellent state. The two heavyweight giants, Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, recently finished fourth, with Usyk emerging as the undisputed heavyweight champion. This exciting fight is only the beginning, and Eddie Hearn unveiled his plans for the future, especially for Anthony Joshua.
Currently, Usyk and Fury are set to fight in a rematch, which was part of their contract before the fight. Subsequently, because of this, Usyk will not be able to defend the IBF title that he has held for quite some time. Usyk was initially supposed to fight Daniel Dubois, who was the mandatory challenger for the title. However, the IBF had made an exception for the undisputed heavyweight fight. This might not be the case anymore since Usyk is contractually bound to fight Fury next.
Hence, since Usyk cannot defend his title against Dubois, he will have to vacate the title even though he holds the undisputed heavyweight belt. In addition, since Dubois defeated Filip Hrgovic in the recent 5 vs. 5 fight-card, he has become the IBF interim heavyweight champion. As such, he is currently expected to fight Joshua for the IBF title that Usyk will vacate.
Furthermore, Eddie Hearn has laid out an interesting plan to set up Joshua’s fight with the winner of Fury vs. Usyk II. As such, Joshua will fight Dubois for the IBF title on September 21, while Fury and Usyk will fight on December 21. Subsequently, the winner of the two fights will fight for the undisputed title in May 2025.
Eddie Hearn reveals alternate plans for Anthony Joshua
The above plan that Hearn mentioned is his ideal scenario for Anthony Joshua to become a world champion again. However, the Matchroom boxing promoter has alternate plans as a contingency to keep Joshua active inside the ring.
Initially, it was expected that Joshua would fight his longtime rival, Deontay Wilder. This is because they have been matched against each other for quite some time. Unfortunately, Wilder suffered two crushing defeats against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang, which canceled this matchup.
While it canceled a fight, it also brought two other potential fights to the table. Both Zhang and Parker have fought Joshua in the past and would be great opponents. Furthermore, Joshua defeated Zhang during the 2012 Olympics, and Joshua later defeated Parker in 2018 as a pro boxer.
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Abhijay Roy
(551 Articles Published)