oshua May Face Pulev In UK Or Nigeria, Says Hearn

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Boxing promoter, Eddie Hearn, has confirmed Kubrat Pulev is the ‘front-runner’ to face the unified world boxing heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, in the coming weeks.

Pulev is the mandatory challenger to face Joshua, who holds the IBF world heavyweight title belt in addition to the WBA, WBO and IBO belts.

Hearn said talks are in place with Pulev’s camp for the details of the fight, adding that the bout may happen in the United Kingdom or Joshua’s ancestral home, Nigeria.

“Kubrat Pulev is the frontrunner,” said Hearn.

“I think we’ve established that the IBF mandatory was called before the WBO mandatory. Pulev is the fight for me, and more importantly for the boss, AJ, he wants it here. He’s boxed now in Saudi Arabia for his last fight, he’s boxed in New York before that.

“For me, it’s time to come home. The bad news is that Kubrat Pulev wants as much money as possible for this fight and he realises there’s more money in Istanbul, or Saudi Arabia, or the Congo, or Nigeria, but AJ is going to call the shots.

“He may end up having to let the Pulev fight go, if he won’t fight in the places that we’d like him to fight and that is in the UK.

“We’re looking at dates at the end of May to the beginning of June for the Pulev fight. Everywhere is in play.

“Emirates Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur, The Olympic Stadium, we’ve also reached out to Twickenham as well.

“The Principality Stadium has got some dates for us, so in an ideal world, AJ’s next fight will be Kubrat Pulev in London, but this is far from an ideal world, particularly in the boxing game.”