Anthony Joshua's first fight since reclaiming his unified heavyweight titles has been announced.
Matchroom Boxing revealed that Joshua will defend his WBA, WBO and IBF titles against mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev. The fight will take place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on June 20.
This will be Joshua's first fight of 2020 and the British star is coming off a rollercoaster year. Last June, Joshua suffered his first pro loss in his U.S. pro debut when he was stopped by Andy Ruiz Jr., who came into the fight as a replacement for the unbeaten Jarrell Miller after he failed a drug test. Afterwards, Joshua and Ruiz traveled to Saudi Arabia for the rematch last December in which Joshua outboxed Ruiz for 12 rounds and won back the titles with a unanimous decision win.
Pulev had been waiting for years to get his shot at Joshua and the heavyweight titles. The two were actually supposed to have fought in the fall of 2017 in Cardiff, Wales, but was forced to withdraw from the fight due to injury. As a result, Pulev had to work his way back to title contention, winning an IBF title eliminator against Hughie Fury in October 2018. Since that win over Fury, Pulev signed with Top Rank Boxing and won his last two fights, both in the United States.
The announcement comes a little more than a week after Tyson Fury, another former unified heavyweight champion, won the WBC title with a seventh-round stoppage win over Deontay Wilder. A third fight between the two is likely taking place on July 18, less than a month after Joshua's fight, but that fight has yet to be formally announced.
