Boxing

Heavyweight Champion, Anthony Joshua has been confirmed to fight Andy Ruiz Jr in a bid to defend his WBO, WBA, and IBF heavyweight titles on June1st, at Madison Square Garden, New York. Joshua was initially set to fight Jarrell Miller, who got a 6 months suspension, after failing three different performance-enhancing drug (PED) tests including human growth hormone (HGH) and erythropoietin (EPO).

The WBA, WBO and IBF world champion, Anthony Joshua has challenged Deontay Wilder, WBC belt-holder to a fight. The IBF world champion, made this challenge during an interview on US network ESPN.

The IBF stripped Gennady Golovkin of its middleweight title Wednesday. The New Jersey-based sanctioning organization ruled to take Golovkin’s 160-pound championship from him because Golovkin didn’t adhere to the stipulations of the exception the IBF granted before he fought Vanes Martirosyan on May 5 in Carson, California.

Deontay Wilder believes a fight against Anthony Joshua will happen in either September or November this year and insists the match-up will definitely take place. Wilder (40-0, 39KOs) defended his WBC heavyweight belt against Luis Ortiz in March while Joshua beat Joseph Parker to add the New Zealander's WBO strap to his existing WBA and IBF titles.

Pound-for-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko has officially vacated his junior lightweight world title, opting instead to keep the lightweight world title he won from Jorge Linares on May 12. Carl Moretti, the vice president of Top Rank, which promotes Lomachenko, sent a letter on Wednesday to WBO president Francisco "Paco" Valcarcel notifying the organization of Lomachenko's decision, which was expected.

Anthony Joshua believes he owes it to his home fans to fight Deontay Wilder in the UK. The Nigerian British heavyweight champion insists the bout takes place in the UK. Joshua added the WBO heavyweight belt to his existing WBA and IBF straps on March 31 with unanimous decision victory over Joseph Parker.