The Morning After Victory -What’s Next for Anthony Joshua?

Morning after Victory – what’s next for Anthony Joshua explores the coming days and years in his glittering career.

Fans of Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua, OBE, the now two-time heavyweight champion of the World and the current holder of the WBO, IBF, WBA(Super) and the IBO heavyweight titles are still reeling in joy, following the spectacular display of boxing mastery demonstrated by the champion during a one-sided unanimous victory over the former heavyweight champion, Andy Ruiz.

The 30-year-old champion once held the titles between 2016 and June 2019 before losing them to Andy Ruiz on the 1^st of June,2019 at the Madison Square Garden.

On Saturday, 7^th of December, he regained his world title belts with a unanimous decision victory over Andy Ruiz at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Al-Turaif, Riyadh Saudi Arabia.

What’s Next for the Champion?

Anthony Joshua has many fighting options to pursue in 2020 which looks like an exciting boxing year in the waiting.

With the assistance of his manager, the ebullient and experienced Eddie Hearn, the champion should be able to safely sail through the murky waters of Boxing Governing Bodies’ politics.

In the coming weeks, the team of the champion will engage the various governing bodies overseeing WBA, WBO, IBO, IBF and the IBO to sort out the order in which the champion will fulfil his mandatory.

The boxing world is desperate to see who the re-installed world champion meets next, as he has mandatory fight obligations to fulfil in 2020.

Eddie Hearn suggested that the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium may host the Homecoming fight of Anthony Joshua in April or May 2020, given the fact that the Wembley Stadium may be unavailable at the time.

The Morning After Victory -What’s Next for Anthony Joshua?

Kubrat “The Cobra” Pulev – IBF Mandatory Challenger

The IBF number 1 challenger, Kubrat “The Cobra” Pulev (28-1,14 Kos) is the most likely opponent to go first. He is a mandatory challenger on the IBF front, and he has unfinished business with Anthony Joshua.

They were scheduled to fight in October 2017 when the 36-year-old Bulgarian pulled out of the fight, leading to Carlos Takam stepping in as a replacement.

Kubrat Pulev is credible in his own right with 28 wins and 14 knockouts to his records. The only loss on his record was the fifth-round stoppage by the then-champion, Wladimir Klitschko.

On Saturday night in Fresco California, Kubrat “The Cobra” Pulev made a statement of intent to challenge the winner of Joshua vs Ruiz II when he won a unanimous decision over Rydell Booker, a Detroit-based seasoned pugilist (26-3, 13 Kos).

Following AJ’s victory over Andy Ruiz, Kubrat Pulev announced on Twitter “I want to congratulate AJ and Eddie on regaining the title and look forward to facing AJ in his next bout, as the IBF has ordered.  The result is going to be different this time, I guarantee it!”.

Oleksandr Usyk – WBO Mandatory Challenger.

Should the fight with Kubrat Pulev falter again, and assuming no problem, Oleksandr Usyk, the WBO mandatory challenger should be the natural fit.

While the boxing pedigree of the former undisputed world cruiserweight champion is in no doubt, his resume at the heavyweight boxing division is yet to be proven.

The WBO Chief, Paco Valcarcel has called unto Joshua’s camp to make the Usyk fight within 180 days.

There is no doubt that the Ukrainian Southpaw would provide Anthony Joshua a very stern test, given his versatility and understanding of pugilism but his inexperience at the heavyweight elite level and his seemingly suspect knockout power may prove to be his eventual undoing if he ever steps into the ring with Anthony Joshua.

He has only one fight to his record at the heavyweight division with a seven-round stoppage of Chazz Witherspoon in October in Chicago, USA.

There is also a possibility of Anthony Joshua vacating the WBO title if he is unable to align the varying governing bodies.

This will leave Oleksandr Usyk to fight for a vacant WBO title.

Former Cruiserweight champion, Tony Bellew (30-3-1) who suffered an eight-round stoppage defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in November 2018 commented on the possible Joshua – Usyk fight when he told the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast: “Oleksandr Usyk is a big danger to anyone.

He’s a very, very good fighter in his own right. I just think that the only thing that is missing with Oleksandr Usyk is the sheer size and the weight.

“What he’ll find is he’ll probably be beating all these guys for five or six rounds – very similar to how I was beating him to be honest until I got tired – and then what’ll happen is they’ll catch up with him.

I do think he beats everybody, I think the only two guys who are gonna be a step too far will probably be Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua – depending on which Joshua comes in. The Joshua who turned up on Saturday night, I think that’s the perfect model for the Usyk fight.”

Tyson Fury –Lucrative British Showdown

The All-British Heavyweight fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury (24-1-0) would command a sell-out ticketing scenario and should break available boxing viewing records.

The boxing match will tick the boxes of many lovers of pugilism, both in terms of awareness and in-ring customer satisfaction.

The two elite boxers surely have love for each other as Tyson Fury showed solidarity with Anthony Joshua when he was trying to regain his championship belts from Andy Ruiz following his stunning upset at the hands of the murky Mexican boxer on June 1.

Tyson Fury also threw a subtle jab at Lennox Lewis by calling him a “legendary of some sort” and a “liar” in a recent interview with DAZN Network, and the fans of the sport are quick to interpret that as Tyson taking Anthony Joshua’s side.

Anthony Joshua appears to be reciprocating the love gesture by offering to spar with Tyson to prepare him for his fight with Deontay Wilder in February during a recent interview on SKY.

Tyson Fury has since accepted the sparring offer and hoped that Joshua will follow through on his promised participation in the camp preparation.

Joshua provided the rationale behind his offer by arguing that “Tyson Fury will most likely fight him quicker than Deontay Wilder will ever do.”

Tyson Fury has since responded to Anthony Joshua’s offer by saying: ‘I’ve just seen the video of Joshua on Sky Sports saying he’d love to come and help me in camp and that I’d fight him quicker than Wilder, that’s for sure,’ Fury said on Instagram.

‘When I beat Wilder, I will fight you AJ, no problem. ‘I’d love to have you in camp, mush.

‘Really, really love to have you in a camp workout for this fight and give Deontay Wilder a proper beating.

‘I’d love to, I hope you mean it because I’d love to have you in training camp with me. ‘Thanks very much by the way and well done in your last fight. Congratulations and fair play.’

Whatever the permutation and combination, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will only meet each other in the ring after Joshua has fulfilled his mandatory and Fury slog it out with Wilder.

Boxing fans and more importantly, British Boxing fans are eager to see the two boxers enjoy their day of self-imposed reckoning.

Tyson Fury (24-1-0) won the Unified WBA (Super), WBO, IBO, The Ring Magazine and the Lineal Heavyweight titles in 2015 when he defeated Wladimir Klitschko in Germany.

He eventually stripped off the belts due to his conduct in the ring.

He has since redeemed himself and he’s currently ranked the world’s best active heavyweight by The Ring, the Third best active heavyweight by the Transnational Boxing Ranking Board and fourth by BoxRec.

Later in 2018, following more than two years of inactivity, Fury challenged for the WBC heavyweight title against Deontay Wilder.

The fight was controversially scored as a draw, with many believing Fury won.

Fury’s strong performance against Wilder (including recovering from a heavy knockdown in the final round) earned him the Comeback of the Year Award from The Ring and numerous other awards.

The Morning After Victory -What’s Next for Anthony Joshua?

Andy Ruiz – In Pursuit of Trilogy

A third fight with Andy Ruiz is in the offing but not in the immediate. Andy Ruiz’s profile rose dramatically when he defeated Anthony Joshua in America on the 1^st of June,2019 at the Madison Square Garden.

Anthony Joshua avenged that loss by coming out on top at the clash of the Dunes held at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Al-Turaif, Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

This is a later-time fight as Anthony Joshua will have to fulfil his mandatory first, and may never happen after all, as Ruiz will have to keep winning to stand any chance of ever fighting Joshua again.

Deontay Wilder – The Race to the Undisputed Throne

This a boxing match-up that has been well touted since Anthony Joshua became heavyweight champion.

The significance of this match is that the winner will become the undisputed world champion. The last undisputed world champion was Lennox Lewis.

 

Deontay Wilder , the owner of the WBC Heavyweight Title is desperate to unify the division and have “One Face, One Name and One Champion”.

Following Anthony Joshua’s victory on the 7^th of December, Deontay Wilder said “I don’t think we’ll ever see a unification bout,” Wilder told The Athletic.

“We’ll never see it, and I don’t want people to get their hopes up on it because it’ll never happen.”

Despite Joshua’s victory, Deontay Wilder was not impressed by his rival’s victory. “Joshua did what he had to do to get the win,” said the American. “He ran around the ring and was on his bike all day.

“He had Klitschko in the camp and he was a lot like Klitschko: that jab-grab-hold method. That’s all he did tonight.

“You want to dominate guys, man. Maybe I’m just too rough, too hardcore and too much of a dream for this time and era, maybe the world wants that nice s**t, but my mentality is so different from these other fighters.

It should be noted that it has been difficult for the two champions to agree to terms despite plenty of verbal sparring on social media.

Boxing is unlike other sports where there is a super governing body arbitrating the activities of the lesser overseeing bodies.

The British Boxing Board of Control and other equivalent bodies manage the safety of the sport and its various ranking systems but they have little involvement in making fights happen.

The contractual obligations of these champions are another hurdle that impacts the reality of their squaring up.

Anthony Joshua is promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, whose close partnership with Sky TV sees them broadcast his fights in Britain on Sky Sports, while other broadcasters do battle for the rights to broadcast him elsewhere on a fight-by-fight basis.

Deontay Wilder offers a more complex situation. He is co-managed by Al Haymon.

Haymon is a powerhouse in the business of boxing and his company, Premier Boxing Champions, has partnerships with multiple broadcasters.

The lead broadcaster on Wilder’s last bout was the US channel, Showtime.

The resulting camps have fractured the landscape of heavyweight boxing. This means we see more simple-to-make match-ups, rather than the blockbuster bouts fans want.

This problem can only be resolved by promoters and broadcasters working together on an agreed-sharing basis.

It remains to be seen whether this fight will happen.

The Morning After Victory -What’s Next for Anthony Joshua?