Eddie Hearn: Still awaiting confirmation from governing bodies on who’s next for Anthony Joshua

Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn is currently in the midst of sorting out what’s next for his heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua. With Joshua now having recaptured his world titles in his rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr. last month, Joshua was immediately ordered to face mandatory challengers Kubrat Pulev and Oleksandry Usyk by the IBF and WBO, respectively.

Obviously Joshua can only face one man at a time though, so his promoter is currently trying to figure out a way that he can set up Joshua’s next title defense without having to vacate the other title. It had been previously reported that the IBF title defense had already been agreed to come next, but as this is boxing, everything is negotiable.

“Conversations are ongoing with all parties to plan what’s next and it will really come to a head over the next few weeks,” Hearn told Sky Sports.

”We are still awaiting clarification from the governing bodies to confirm who is chronologically next but right now everything is in play.”

Should Joshua face Pulev next, Hearn says that a fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Dereck Chisora is a fight that’s still in play for March 28th at the O2 Arena, although Joseph Parker’s promoter just recently said his fighter would like to face Usyk for the WBO belt if Joshua gets stripped or vacated.

We’ll just have to wait and see how this plays out because Joshua’s next move is expected to have a little bit of a cascading effect in terms of other notable fights to be made in the division.