Anthony Joshua might have had to pay a baggage fee, along with all those sanctioning fees, for the trunk of title belts he took home from his redemptive decision over Andy Ruiz Jr. on Saturday in Saudi Arabia.
Joshua had all but one of them safely back in his wardrobe, which is where they might stay for at least awhile.
Joshua is in no mood to relinquish any of them.
For weeks, there was talk that at least one of the belts would be vacated, whatever that means. Rooms go vacant. Belts don’t. It would be nice if the sanctioning bodies just vacated the word, put vacate on permanent vacation. But that’s about as likely as an end to those sanctioning fees. Anyway, let’s just say that it sounds as if Joshua isn’t prepared to move out of any corner to his regained position at the top of the heavyweight division.
Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn anticipated that Saturday’s winner would give up at least one of the belts. The promotional idea, perhaps, was that Oleksandr Usyk would have a quick and easy path to the first available belt. But Joshua wasn’t ready to give up anything to Usyk or anybody else.
The first time was so nice. We had to do it twice 🥊 https://t.co/iPD3wdQfE2
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyfjoshua) December 9, 2019
On Sunday, the WBO ordered Joshua to face Usyk in a mandatory title defense. Then the IBF quickly followed with its own mandatory, ordering Joshua to face Kubrat Pulev. Hearn was expected to sort out those orders and presumably a few more during the next few weeks. He foresees Joshua back in the ring in spring.
“I think April or May,’’ he told Sky Sports. “That’s a realistic date.’’
By then, Joshua and Hearn should have a better idea about the only heavyweight fight that matters: Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury. Wilder holds the only other significant belt. Fury calls himself the lineal heavyweight champion. A Fury-Wilder rematch looms in February at a still undisclosed location.
For Joshua’s projected return in spring, Hearn expects Pulev.
“A.J. will want to maintain the belts, and if that’s the case, I think it will be Pulev, and then Usyk,’’ Hearn said.
Pulev, a Top Rank-promoted Bulgarian, was scheduled to fight Joshua on Oct. 28 in Cardiff, Wales. But he withdrew because of a shoulder injury.