Anthony Joshua will get a chance to fight for a world title belt once again after Eddie Hearn confirmed his next bout. The British heavyweight beat Otto Wallin with a brilliant performance in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
However, the card did not go according to plan as Joseph Parker upset Deontay Wilder to throw away his £80million, two-fight deal with Joshua. It means the London-born boxer will take on Filip Hrgovic next year for the IBF strap.
All four belts are expected to splinter next year after Tyson Fury takes on Oleksandr Usyk in February, opening the door for Joshua and Hrgovic to contest the IBF gong.
Hearn said: “We signed for Wilder, he lost tonight. Maybe it’s a blessing because AJ wants to become a three-time heavyweight world champion. It’s gonna be AJ vs Hrgovic for the world title.”
Croatian star Hrgovic is unbeaten in his 17 professional fights, with 14 wins coming via knockout. But he is set to go toe-to-toe with an in-form Joshua, who left Wallin bloodied and bruised.
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Meanwhile, Joshua did not rule out fighting Wilder in the future and backed the American to bounce back. He said: “I heard that Deontay lost. So what? He’ll be back. Deontay, everything that he said about me, I could rip him apart right now, but I’m going to take the higher ground.
“You can come back. If he wanted to, he can come back. I’m sure everyone still wants to see that fight.”
But it appears world titles are definitely at the forefront of Joshua’s mind. He added: “We’ve got bigger ambitions. As I said to Louis Theroux, we don’t celebrate when we win these fights, we celebrate when we win titles.”