Anthony Joshua vs Alexander Povetkin officially announced for Sept. 22

Although it has been pretty well known for a couple of weeks now, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn has formally announced that unified heavyweight titleholder Anthony Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) will be making his next title defense against mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin (34-1, 24 KOs) on September 22nd at Wembley Stadium.

Joshua has been in discussions to have an undisputed title unification with Deontay Wilder, but as talks progressed it became pretty apparent that Joshua’s team did not want to make that fight for Joshua’s next outing. Instead Joshua has Wembley Stadium booked for April 13 and that’s currently thought to be the earliest that we could see that fight take place.

In the meanwhile, Joshua will have to take care of business against Povetkin, 38, who is coming off of a knockout win over David Price this past March.

“I can’t wait to get back in the ring. The end of March feels a long time ago now,” Joshua said. “Povetkin is a serious challenge that I will prepare meticulously for. He has serious pedigree, and only a fool would underestimate what he brings to the table.”

Joshua-Povetkin will headline a Sky PPV in the U.K. while plans to air in the U.S. have not been announced. It is expected, however, that the fight will stream on DAZN as part of Hearn’s recent deal with the streaming service.