Anthony Joshua next fight date and opponent for ex-heavyweight world champion

28 October 2023 , 15:00

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Anthony Joshua next fight date and opponent for ex-heavyweight world champion

Anthony Joshua remains without a fight date - despite bitter rival Tyson Fury having TWO booked before the end of the year.

Fury takes on Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia tonight and, assuming he emerges from the ring unscathed, will then meet Oleksandr Usyk on December 23 to crown the first undisputed heavyweight world champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. But Joshua is still waiting to secure a return to the ring have seen a bout with Deontay Wilder delayed.

The giant heavyweights had hoped to fight before the turn of the year but their long-awaited clash has been pushed back and may now not happen until April. Wilder took to social media this week to make a direct plea to the Brit. “(It is) a fight everyone is looking forward to and hopefully it happens and I’m doing everything in my power to make it happen, and I’m referring to the Anthony Joshua fight,” he said.

“Anthony, you’re getting it from the horse’s mouth himself: I’m here, I’m ready to go. I heard some things your promoter (Eddie Hearn) said that my last fight only lasted a short period of time and I haven’t fought in a year and he doesn’t know if I want to fight or not. But I’m letting you know I’m ready to fight – let’s make this the best time of our lives. This would be a major disaster if we were never able to get in the ring and put our stamp down in history."

Joshua has fought twice this year, labouring to a points win over Jermain Franklin in April before knocking out Robert Helenius four months later. Joshua had been due to take on Dillian Whyte in a rematch before his rival failed a drug's test just days out from their second instalment.

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But there is still hope Joshua will be seen in a ring before Christmas with promoter Eddie Hearn targeting a December date. Of the Wilder fight, Hearn told iFL TV : "Talks are ongoing. We are still in the same position of a January fight. If we don't conclude that fight and they about moving it to February or March, we will probably fight in December. Wilder is talking about fighting in October, but it's already September now.

"He will wait to fight Wilder in January. He's training now. He wants to fight in December. If they turned around and said 'let's do the Wilder fight in December' he'd do it. But everybody is talking like it's happening, but until it's happening it ain't on. Until it's on, we'll keep our options open for December. Ideally, we'd like to go straight into the Wilder fight."

Martin Domin