WBA continues to hold up Wladimir Klitschko-Anthony Joshua fight

We’re now just six weeks away from Anthony Joshua’s next scheduled fight on December 10, but there’s still no official word on an opponent. The one main reason for that is because IBF titlist Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko are awaiting a decision by the WBA as to whether or not they’ll sanction a fight between them for their vacant world title — a make or break issue for Klitschko.

As such the IBF confirms that they’ve yet to receive a request to sanction Joshua’s next fight — likely because promoter Eddie Hearn is waiting on the WBA’s decision to see if the Klitschko fight can go through, which is not looking great at the moment.

“We have not heard anything from Eddie Hearn as to who Anthony Joshua will fight and there’s been no request to sanction Wladimir Klitschko,” IBF Chairman Lindsey Tucker exclusively told World Boxing News.

The WBA was supposed to have announced their decision last Thursday, but then said they would delay their announcement to last Friday. But now, on a Monday, with the weekend having passed us by, there’s still no word from the sanctioning body.

With each passing day it’s looking more and more likely that a Klitschko-Joshua showdown won’t be happening — at least not this year — which will surely come as another blow to boxing fans who’ve had to endure a tough 2016.