Who will IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua fight next? His promoter Eddie Hearn, in speaking with the Daily Mail, said we can “expect an AJ return in November or December,” and that there are four names currently in the mix as far as possible challengers. Hearn said Joseph Parker, Joshua’s mandatory challenger, will be accommodated, possibly on the November or December date, or if not then, early next year.
If it’s not Parker next, Hearn says the following three fighters are all in the frame: Bryant Jennings, Bermane Stiverne and Kubrat Pulev. Hearn also said there is “the possibility next year of Wladimir Klitschko, with the uncertainty surrounding Tyson Fury’s future at the moment.” The Fury situation is indeed very unclear right now; did Fury fail a drugs test last September? Could he be stripped of his belts if so? Will Klitschko fight someone else instead? Time alone will tell. But Joshua is going to remain active – he is the most active of the current heavyweight champions – and a fight with either of Parker, Stiverne, Pulev or Jennings would prove hugely interesting.
Either of these four fighters would rate as Joshua’s biggest test to date. Parker is young, hungry and unbeaten, Pulev, the European champion, is strong and experienced, Stiverne is also a fighter who can punch and be a physical handful for any fighter, even though he has been far from active as of late, and Jennings is a gutsy fighter willing to take on the best; see his losing but competitive losses to Klitschko and the almost criminally avoided Luis Ortiz, a claimant of the WBA heavyweight belt.
Joshua has still to be extended beyond the 7th-round, but there would be a good chance of this changing if he fought one of these four listed fighters. If Joshua does face either Pulev, Jennings or Stiverne in November or December, and has a tough night’s work, he wouldn’t have all that long to rest up and then get ready for the mandatory against Parker, which Hearn says would happen in February or March of 2017 if it does not happen this year.
Joshua, a heavyweight who has plenty of people excited, has some potentially hard fights ahead of him, fights that, if he wins, will see him develop into a proven champion.
