ANTHONY JOSHUA will defend his three world heavyweight titles against IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev in the first week of December – probably behind closed doors.
That’s according to Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, who still hopes to hold Brit AJ’S bout with the Bulgarian 39-year-old at London’s O2 Arena.
World champion Anthony Joshua has four months to prepare for his title defence against outsider Kubrat PulevCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Two-time European heavyweight champ Kubrat Pulev is set to face Anthony Joshua, having challenged for the unified world title in 2014Credit: Instagram @kubratpulev
Hearn told ESPN: “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.
“But it’s still not a gimme at all. There’s still a very strong chance that AJ will have to fight behind closed doors.”
Joshua’s initial date of facing rank outsider Pulev at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20 was ditched due to the coronavirus pandemic.
And Hearn said of The 02: “Their regulations comply with the government, so at the moment they’re closed.
“So they would need to open up. We’d need to get an understanding from the government what is allowed in arenas. Are you going to open at 50 per cent [capacity]?
“Are you going to open up 100 per cent? There’s a lot of work that has to go into that with the government and The O2.”
AJ might then have to meet the WBO’s No1 challenger Oleksandr Usyk before possibly closing on a title unifier with Tyson Fury, which would arguably be the biggest fight in British boxing history.
Anthony Joshua remembers fear of prison life inspired him to turn young life around and become boxing superstar
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
