Anthony Joshua in huge boost to fight for world title he has NEVER won… but why it all depends on Daniel Dubois
ANTHONY JOSHUA could finally get the chance to fight for the WBC title – but it all depends on Daniel Dubois.
Joshua, 35, has twice held the unified WBA, IBF and WBO versions of the belts – but never the iconic green and gold WBC.
The strap is currently held by Oleksandr Usyk, 38, after he took it from Tyson Fury, 36, and then defended it in his pair of points wins last year.
But he had to vacate the IBF title to proceed with his December rematch with Fury – which he won via disputed decision.
Dubois, 27, was meanwhile elevated from interim champion to the full version – knocking out AJ in his first defense in September.
He now puts it on the line against Joseph Parker, 33, on Saturday night in Riyadh – with Usyk in line to fight the winner.
That would make it for all four undisputed belts again – so Agit Kabayel and Zhilei Zhang contest for the interim version on the undercard.
Winning that trinket title automatically puts the winner in line to challenge for the full version or be elevated in the event of the champ being stripped.
And WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman is open to Joshua fighting for the WBC interim belt this year against either Zhang, 41, or Kabayel, 32.
Sulaiman told SunSport: “Very possibly Anthony Joshua could fight the winner and then the winner would be the interim champion.
“What we’re trying to do is to give the fans the best fights possible.
“We are administering within our rules that give us plenty of room to be ordering or managing the divisions for the benefit of the industry
“So that is a very doable thing if Anthony Joshua is to fight the winner of Kabayel-Zhang – absolutely it would be an WBC interim title fight.”
‘Dynamite’ Dubois was elevated to full champion after beating Filip Hrgovic and made the first defence of his title in emphatic fashion, battering Joshua at Wembley Stadium and stopping him in the fifth.
He had been heavily linked with a two-fight deal against Joshua this year, however, those plans have now been thrown out the window following Fury’s recent revelation.
“I can understand why people would want to see it,” Jordan said.
Usyk has cleared out all of the main competition in the heavyweight division in the last six years since moving up from cruiserweight. He left the weight class below as undisputed champion and recently repeated that feat at heavyweight. He twice beat Anthony Joshua to relive him of his three world titles and then defend them in a second fight, and wasn’t significantly hurt in either on his way to a brace of points victories.
This is the natural next fight for these long time British rivals and would be a legacy defining contest that would be of great interest to fans.
“But I can really see Joshua winning that fight, to be honest. If he goes in and does what he has to do and does not think so much. I think Joshua thinks a lot. He doubts himself a lot as well. I don’t think he has a lot of self-motivation or self-confidence.
“I think the brands are so strong,” DuBoef told Sky Sports. “In the UK, the country would stop for an hour to see what happens and I think that’s a wonderful thing. They’re like peanut butter and jelly, Joshua and Fury, they go together.”
“Fury is a massive favourite but I think in general he was always a slight favourite (against Joshua),” Jones told the 5 Live Boxing with Steve Bunce podcast.
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“Sooner or later, in the coming weeks, we will want to put a plan together for Anthony Joshua. That is when the conversations will come with Frank Warren, Spencer Brown [Fury’s manager] and His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] and say, ‘we want to make AJ-Fury what do you think? We’ll go from there.”
As a gesture of goodwill, Anthony Joshua presented President Tinubu with an autographed boxing glove inscribed, “To the Great Asiwaju Jagaban Borgu of Africa, Bola A. Tinubu.” Photos from the visit were shared on the Presidency’s official X handle, accompanied by a caption that read: “President Bola Tinubu receiving an autographed glove from former World Heavyweight Champion, Anthony Joshua, when he visited the President at his residence in Lagos.”
Governor Abiodun further disclosed that Joshua would play a pivotal role in the Gateway Games National Sports Festival by lighting the festival torch in May 2025.