ANTHONY JOSHUA revealed he is closing in on his next fight as he prepares for a Wembley return.
AJ is due to be back in front of the 90,000-seat stadium in September following three fights in Saudi Arabia.
Instead, Saudi’s boxing chief Turki Alalshikh is making his first splash in the British market by promoting Joshua’s homecoming bout.
An announcement looks to be on the way as Joshua posted: “Nearly finished my negotiations for my next fight! Feeling motivated.”
Joshua has twice sold out Wembley for his world title wins over Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin.
He also beat Carlos Takam and Joseph Parker at the 75,000-seat Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
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His most recent bouts in the UK have been back at the O2, with wins over Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius.
They followed on from double defeat to Oleksandr Usyk, 37, who has since beaten Tyson Fury, 35, to become undisputed champion.
And with the pair due to rematch back in Riyadh on December 21, AJ was forced to look elsewhere for an opponent.
Deontay Wilder was in the mix but twice fluffed his lines following defeats to Parker, 32, and Zhilei Zhang, 41.
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How AJ punched his way to the top
ANTHONY JOSHUA punched his way to the top of the world before being knocked off his perch.
The American former WBC champ, 38, now faces retirement.
It has instead opened up the opportunity for Daniel Dubois, 26, to face Joshua, 34, in an all-British blockbuster at Wembley.
Dubois is coming off the biggest win of his career against Filip Hrgovic, 32, in Saudi.
It crowned him the IBF interim champ and next in line for the belt held by Usyk.
The Ukrainian faced being stripped of his title due to his rematch with Fury preventing him from fighting his No1 ranked IBF challenger.
But so far, Usyk has kept hold of his titles despite threat of Joshua and Dubois will battle for the vacant strap in London.
A press conference in the capital is planned for June 26 where AJ’s next fight and title hopes are to be confirmed.
He is coming off a second-round KO of ex-UFC star Francis Ngannou, 37, in March.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
