About one week after Anthony Joshua defeated Joseph Parker in a unification bout held in Principality Stadium, Cardiff, his promoter, Eddie Hearn has revealed his next likely opponent.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Hearn said Joshua's next fight is 'very likely' to be against Deontay Wilder or Alexander Povetkin.
According to him, negotiations have started for a world title fight between unified champion Joshua and WBC king Wilder, but the WBA have now ordered the British star to negotiate a mandatory title defence against Povetkin within the next 30 days.
"The WBA called the mandatory yesterday for AJ to face Povetkin next. We have a 30 day window to negotiate - at this stage it means it's very likely Anthony's next fight will be between Wilder or Povetkin."
Sky Sports reports that Povetkin stayed in line for a shot at Joshua's WBA 'super' belt with a knockout win over David Price and Hearn admits his fighter's shortlist of next opponents appears to have shortened to just two.
Reacting also, Povetkin's promoter, Vadim Kornilov twitted
"Povetkin is now a mandatory contender of Anthony Joshua. He was appointed by WBA. Now there are 150 days to arrange the fight, it must take place. Before the fight with Sasha, Joshua has no right to fight with anybody else. We have 30 days to negotiate @EddieHearn"
He expressed optimism that the fight could be held in Russia.
"It would, depending on the timing, fill up the new [81,000 seater] Luzhniki Stadium - a football stadium. That's a location with enough magnitude for this type of fight."
Meanwhile, Deontay Wilder's team have expressed willingness to fight Joshua, stressing that they have agreed to accept an offer less tahn Klitschko. According to his promoter, Shelley Finkel
"The deal was 50-50 [between Joshua and Wladimir] Klitschko. The [Wilder] fight should be bigger than Klitschko. We already said we would accept less than Klitschko. The fight with Parker was 33 [per cent to Parker].
"This is way bigger and Deontay is way bigger than Parker. We said we would take 40. Hopefully [Friday], we'll have an offer from them, because that's what he's said he's doing."
