Nigerian-born world heavyweight boxing champion, Anthony Olaseni Oluwafemi Joshua has found his mandatory title defence against Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev cast in doubt by a freak foot injury he copped at home last week, megasportsarena.com reports.
The injury was brought to light at the weekend, when ‘AJ’ braved all odds to join a public march against racism, but that has further aggravated worries that he might not be fit enough to contest the International Boxing Federation (IBF) bout with Pulev, which had initially been fixed to hold this month in London.
Dramatically, while Joshua has been cast in doubt for the much-anticipated yet controversy plagued fight with Pulev, a rival heavyweight, Charles Martin of USA has spoken out about his readiness to step in as an alternative at short notice.
While worries linger over Joshua’s physical status and recovery process, Martin affirmed that he will be ready to take the world champion’s place, should he decide to pull out of his fight against Pulev, which is now scheduled for either October or November this year.
Concern erupted over Joshua’s fitness and ability to meet up with his date against Pulev, following worrying sights seen of him at the Black Lives Matter protest on Saturday afternoon in Watford, when he turned up wearing a knee brace.
Joshua delivered a passionate speech as he showed his support for the anti-racism movement by joining a protest match in his hometown, wearing black hoodie, T-shirt, gloves and tights, as the WBA, WBO and IBF champion joined hundreds of others on the peaceful protest.
While walking with crutches and wearing a leg brace as he recovers from an injury he copped in training, Joshua addressed the gathering over a microphone, but he soon squatted as if in pain, while speaking to the crowd and surrounded by his entourage.
Although Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn insists his ward is not under any injury threat, Martin, who was knocked out by the two-time champ when they met at London’s O2 Arena in 2016, says he would be prepared to stand in at the last minute if need be.
The president of Warriors Boxing Promotions, Leon Margules, who represents Martin, admitted the American has an impression that Joshua’s IBF world heavyweight title would become vacant if he has to pull out, because the fight is mandatory,
Margules told Sky Sports: “If Joshua is injured and can’t defend on a mandatory basis, and the title becomes vacant, we’ll fight Pulev for the vacant title. Charles Martin is fit, ready and waiting for that opportunity. We’ve been waiting for the opportunity for a long time.
“We were actually reading all about Joshua-Fury, and then thinking to ourselves that the IBF would then vacate the IBF title, because he didn’t do his mandatory. He’s already had exceptions. We would then demand the IBF vacate the title and allow Pulev to fight for Joshua’s vacant title.
“I think Charles could beat Pulev. I think Charles could beat Joshua if they fought again. I think Charles is a totally different fighter today than he was when he went over and fought Joshua.”
On the other hand, Top Rank Promotions chief executive, Bob Arum believes a blockbuster bout between his ward, Tyson Fury and Joshua will go head-to-head in the ring next year, stressing that the all-British clash between the two heavyweights is a fight many fans want to see.
He predicted that, should they both negotiate their next opponents, that a fight could take place in 2021, as Fury is set for a trilogy match against USA’s Deontay Wilder later this year, after he took the American’s belt by beating him in Las Vegas last February.
Despite difficulties that often come with putting together blockbuster fights, Arum does not anticipate negotiations being a problem, and told Sky Sports : “If Joshua beats Pulev, which I don’t want because Pulev is my fighter, but if that happens then obviously we would go ahead and do a Fury versus Joshua fight sometime next year.
“I don’t think the negotiations would be fraught with difficulty. I think we could negotiate a deal if we met in person within the course of one day. We could work it out. We are not known for playing games at Top Rank. We understand how to handle Eddie (Hearn).
“I worked for many years with his father barry who I consider a good friend. Frank will come to the table and we’ll get it done and my prediction would be that we’d get it done in a day.”
