Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk ‘putting finishing touches to contracts for September 25 world heavyweight clash with fight likely to take place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium’
- Oleksandr Usyk is Anthony Joshua’s mandatory challenger for the WBO title
- The Athletic claim both camps are currently finalising deals for September 25
- The fight is reportedly likely to take place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
- Joshua has had to shelve plans to fight Tyson Fury following a court ruling
Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk are reportedly putting the final touches to their contracts which would see them face each other on September 25 in London.
The Ukrainian is Joshua’s mandatory challenger for the WBO heavyweight title and the pair look set to square off after the Briton’s attempts to fight Tyson Fury were put on hold.
The Athletic claim both camps are now reviewing the paperwork, which states the September date for the fight, which is likely to take place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, a 62,000 capacity arena.
Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk are finalising deals for a September fight, it’s claimed
The fight is likely to take place at the 62,000-seater Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London
Joshua was forced to shelve plans for a massive unification showdown with Fury after the Gypsy King was ordered by a court ruling to have a trilogy fight with Deontay Wilder.
That scuppered plans that had been far down the line for an all-British showdown between Fury and Joshua on August 14 in Saudi Arabia, and allowed Usyk to be given the chance for a title shot.
But Wilder also wants in on the action and vowed to hold Joshua ‘to his word’ and fight him after the Fury trilogy fight, accusing the Watford-born boxer of ‘making excuses’ for not taking him.
It comes after Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, said earlier this week that the Brit will sign to fight Usyk in the coming days.
Tyson Fury was ordered by a court to have a trilogy fight with American Deontay Wilder
Promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed earlier this week Joshua would be signing a deal this week
‘I can tell you that this week, that this is a more confident footing than the Joshua – Fury negotiations, because I know Alex Krassyuk (Usyk’s promoter) very well, and I know Usyk very well.
‘This week that fight will be signed. We’re looking at September in London. Just finalising the details. It’s a great fight, a dangerous fight, it’s not the one we necessarily wanted or expected.
‘It’s a high level heavyweight fight. It’s a unified heavyweight champion against the undisputed cruiserweight champion, and on we go with that fight – it’s a big event.’
Both Fury and Joshua’s camps have blamed each other for the all-British mega-money deal falling through, but the former has insisted that he will return to fight AJ once he has finished the job against Wilder yet again.
Joshua has been frustrated on the sidelines since beating Kubrat Pulev in December last year
When questioned about the delay in AJ accepting the Usyk fight after it became clear Fury was off the table, Hearn said: ‘Give AJ the credit. I always bang on the drum that this young man is willing to fight everybody.
‘It was more like not having anywhere to breathe. It was terrible timing from the WBO, but they were just doing their job.’
Former Olympic champion Joshua beat Kubrat Pulev in December last year but has been frustrated on the sidelines ever since.
Usyk – who began mind games with Joshua earlier this week – remains unbeaten in 18 fights as a professional but has little heavyweight division experience, having defeated only Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora.