Tag: kubrat pulev

Anthony Joshua says he would like to defend his titles in Nigeria

New heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua wants to fight one day in his ancestral homeland of Nigeria.

Boxing is hitting the road and Anthony Joshua is among those who has his bags packed and is ready for what he hopes will be a heavyweight title defense in Nigeria one day.

Joshua’s dream of fighting in his ancestral home were revived Saturday when he reclaimed his belts in a redemptive rematch victory over Andy Ruiz Jr. in Saudi Arabia.

“Africa’s rooting for me for sure, so I would definitely love to fight out there,” Joshua told The Telegraph after he arrived in London to a warm U.K. homecoming Monday.

Joshua’s immediate itinerary appears to include at least one home date. The first defense of his reclaimed belts, a mandatory against Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev or Russian Oleksandr Usyk, is expected to be in London, possibly at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in April or May.

Then the road beckons.

Joshua, an Olympic gold medalist at the 2012 London Games, grew up admiring Muhammad Ali, who was a world champion in every way. Ali traveled, defending his title all over the globe, including a memorable victory in Zaire over George Foreman in 1974.

Joshua visited Nigeria earlier this year. While there, he thought about Ali-Foreman, the legendary “Rumble In The Jungle”. It was then that he decided he wanted to fight where his mother was born.

“People had been telling me I should go back for ages,’’ said Joshua, who was born in the U.K. and then spent a few years as a student at a Nigerian boarding school. “It was crazy because they don’t have 24-hour electricity, but they still know me and support me.

“I went to the ghettos of the ghettos where it’s not all about egos and beef, it’s about people who are hungry to survive. It was one of the best things I’ve done. ‘’

Eddie Hearn on Anthony Joshua’s likely immediate future: ‘Pulev, then Usyk’

Eddie Hearn said that if Anthony Joshua is determined to hang onto his three belts, he’ll likely fight Kubrat Pulev next.

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.

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.

Jarrell Miller takes his first steps back into boxing fold

Jarrell Miller, who threw away a chance to fight Anthony Joshua when he tested positive for PEDs, is working his way back into the sport.

Jarrell Miller is getting the red carpet treatment.

Not even six months out from his PED bust, the disgraced heavyweight contender has signed with noted manager James Prince, the fighter announced recently on his Instagram.

The news comes on the heels of a reported multi-year deal being mulled between Miller and Top Rank. Prince, also a music executive, currently manages Top Rank-promoted 126-pound titleholder Shakur Stevenson and Bryant Jennings. He is best known in boxing for managing the career of Andre Ward.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5as_AHhh9Y/

Miller drew headlines when he tested positive multiple times for banned substances leading up to his June 1 fight against Anthony Joshua. Aside from losing out on what would have been a career high payday, reported to be $6.5 million, Miller was stripped of his license in New York and banned for six months by the WBA.

Should Miller sign with Top Rank, he will join a heavyweight stable that includes Tyson Fury and Kubrat Pulev.

Miller (23-0-1, 20 knockouts) hasn’t fought since a fourth-round knockout of Bogdan Dinu in November of last year.