BoxRec

"Anthony Joshua could lose title belt following IBF, WBA mandatory confliction"

Just hours after supposed opponent Wladimir Klitschko retired from the ring, mandatory challengers were lining up for their shot at unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.

Promoter Eddie Hearn admitted IBF number one 'Kubrat Pulev was almost certain to be next' when speaking on the matter in the aftermath, although the WBA have moved to order the Briton to face Luis Ortiz instead.
Hearn now has a fight on his hands to keep both organisations happy following a press release made public by the WBA on Thursday.

It read:

The World Boxing Association Championships Committee ordered the teams behind British Anthony Joshua, current Heavyweight Champion, and Cuban Luis Ortiz, number one in the ranking at more than 200 pounds, to start negotiations for a fight between them.

According to the resolution sent on January 11th, 2017, to both parties, it was reported that the winner of the Joshua-Klitschko fight, held on April 29th, 2017, had to face Ortiz after 120 days. 95 days have passed and, for this reason, the Championships Committee ordered to negotiate a fight between the British and Cuban boxers.

Both parties were duly notified that, as of August 3rd, they have 30 days to reach an agreement or the fight will be called to purse bids.

Obviously Joshua won't be able to please everyone and the likliness of the former Olympic gold medallist dropping one of his three championships in the near future has increased significantly.

Whether this news will lead to Joshua vacating his straps in favor of challenging WBC ruler Deontay Wilder instead of Ortiz or Pulev remains to be seen.

Thooughts?

My thought is boxing will shoot itself in the foot and the top man will be stripped of a title that a prentender can scoop up

Although I definitely think boxers should face their mandatory, situations like this is impossible to work around. Joshua should face Pulev and the winner fights Ortiz - or the other way round. No wonder why many boxers are coming increasingly not bothered about world titles any more.

I was frustrated when Fury lost the IBF belt - which led someone like Charles Martin to fight for and eventually win it.

I would love it to be just one belt per division.

This is where a Boxing Commission would come in handy and could make some regulations regarding boxers holding multiple world titles and rules that govern their mandatory defenses. Regardless of the varying rankings between the IBF and WBA for instance, I'd either make the IBF and WBA work together to come up with one mandatory challenger. Or, if one could not be agreed upon then they could opt to let the commission make the determination. This is definitely how we have BS champions holding belts for a few months.

With that said, i HIGHLY doubt that AJ gets stripped by anyone. He's the future poster boy of boxing and he adds prestige to any belt he gets his hands on from here on out. No way.

I don't care if one of the sanctioning bodies strips him. They will lose a lot of money if they do. They should just agree that he can fight Pulev or Ortiz this year and then the other one in 2018.

It is possible Haymon has manipulated the sanctioning bodies to do this to force Joshua into two very tough fights (Fraud Wilder would never fight Ortiz or Pulev). Now Wilder is coming out suddenly challenging AJ when everybody knows AJ has to fight Pulev and Ortiz. Haymon thinks this will help Wilder get some respect back after they ducked the career high payday offer to fight Whyte which they ducked because they know Wilder is a glass jawed fraud who is only allowed to fight Haymon hired patsies and stiffs.

montrealsuper wrote:It is possible Haymon has manipulated the sanctioning bodies to do this to force Joshua into two very tough fights (Fraud Wilder would never fight Ortiz or Pulev). Now Wilder is coming out suddenly challenging AJ when everybody knows AJ has to fight Pulev and Ortiz. Haymon thinks this will help Wilder get some respect back after they ducked the career high payday offer to fight Whyte which they ducked because they know Wilder is a glass jawed fraud who is only allowed to fight Haymon hired patsies and stiffs.

Haymon sucks but you ridiculously overate his influence.

Ossyrules wrote:My thought is boxing will shoot itself in the foot and the top man will be stripped of a title that a prentender can scoop up

He should go Pulev, the IBF would definitely strip him. They go by their rules, really the only alphabet org that deserves even a little bit of respect. The WBA won't want to lose the sanctioning fees from one of the few huge draws in the sport.

Joshua said "I don't give a FUKKING SHlT about title belts" ... He's in a rare position where he can choose his opponents because he's the money man.. If he's stripped of any titles he's still the Heavyweight Champion of the World and just as many fans are going to pay and show up.. Naturally he wants to fight Parker, Wilder, and Fury.. Those are the big money fights.. Ortiz is the most dangerous opponent and he'll fight him when it's the right time to fight him.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Ossyrules wrote:My thought is boxing will shoot itself in the foot and the top man will be stripped of a title that a prentender can scoop up

He should go Pulev, the IBF would definitely strip him. They go by their rules, really the only alphabet org that deserves even a little bit of respect. The WBA won't want to lose the sanctioning fees from one of the few huge draws in the sport.

Agreed. Added to the fact Joshua has held that belt longer so technically a mandatory has been waiting longer.

My only criticism with the IBF was the fury treatment, but generally they are much more straight forward than the WBA or WBC

If he does care about money and not belts, he should fight Wilder for unification. Biggest fight out there right now money-wise.

Bristolcityfc1 wrote:Pulev November-Ortiz Feb or March simples

... and Wilder can keep fighting bums which he enjoys.

Badhusker wrote:If he does care about money and not belts, he should fight Wilder for unification. Biggest fight out there right now money-wise.

Is it? Maybe. Wilder certainly isn't a money fighter. I suppose they might generate a little interest in the states.

Wilder would be big in the UK because he's the American entry... The Cuban entry wouldn't excite them as much... Klitschko was big because his name is so big. That was the fight to make. Other than the Fury fight the biggest fight now that Wladimir has retired would be Wilder.

They'd do 90,000 again in Wembley... They could charge PPV in the US and aim for 1.5 million which is 150 million... Actually I doubt very much if they'd do that well -- but if Mayweather-McGregor and GGG-Canelo are blockbuster fights Joshua vs Wilder will draw bigger... Everybody knows it's going to be an explosive fight that's going to have a brutal KO finish.. It's the kind of fight where the undefeated records and KO ratios can be exploited to the moon.

Kalan wrote:Wilder would be big in the UK because he's the American entry... The Cuban entry wouldn't excite them as much... Klitschko was big because his name is so big. That was the fight to make. Other than the Fury fight the biggest fight now that Wladimir has retired would be Wilder.

They'd do 90,000 again in Wembley... They could charge PPV in the US and aim for 1.5 million which is 150 million... Actually I doubt very much if they'd do that well -- but if Mayweather-McGregor and GGG-Canelo are blockbuster fights Joshua vs Wilder will draw bigger... Everybody knows it's going to be an explosive fight that's going to have a brutal KO finish.. It's the kind of fight where the undefeated records and KO ratios can be exploited to the moon.

If Pulev took step aside for Joshua's next fight, then why can't AJ just fight Ortiz on the already scheduled day in Vegas?

Hope he kicks it off with Pulev on October 28th in Wales, same day as Cardiff v Millwall

Why not keep the Vegas booking and have Wilder vs Ortiz and Joshua vs Pulev on the same card with the the winners fighting each other next. There'd be something in it for all of them. Joshua could satisfy both mandatories without getting stripped and raise his US profile. Pulev and Ortiz would both fight for a title and get some of the money associated with Joshua. Wilder would raise his profile, get more money and possibly get to fight Joshua one fight sooner.

Kalan wrote:Wilder would be big in the UK because he's the American entry... The Cuban entry wouldn't excite them as much... Klitschko was big because his name is so big. That was the fight to make. Other than the Fury fight the biggest fight now that Wladimir has retired would be Wilder.

They'd do 90,000 again in Wembley... They could charge PPV in the US and aim for 1.5 million which is 150 million... Actually I doubt very much if they'd do that well -- but if Mayweather-McGregor and GGG-Canelo are blockbuster fights Joshua vs Wilder will draw bigger... Everybody knows it's going to be an explosive fight that's going to have a brutal KO finish.. It's the kind of fight where the undefeated records and KO ratios can be exploited to the moon.

They'd do 100-150k. Nobody knows either of them

klitoris wrote:If Pulev took step aside for Joshua's next fight, then why can't AJ just fight Ortiz on the already scheduled day in Vegas?

Because the arena would be empty and mgm wouldn't pay nearly the same site fee.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Kalan wrote:Wilder would be big in the UK because he's the American entry... The Cuban entry wouldn't excite them as much... Klitschko was big because his name is so big. That was the fight to make. Other than the Fury fight the biggest fight now that Wladimir has retired would be Wilder.

They'd do 90,000 again in Wembley... They could charge PPV in the US and aim for 1.5 million which is 150 million... Actually I doubt very much if they'd do that well -- but if Mayweather-McGregor and GGG-Canelo are blockbuster fights Joshua vs Wilder will draw bigger... Everybody knows it's going to be an explosive fight that's going to have a brutal KO finish.. It's the kind of fight where the undefeated records and KO ratios can be exploited to the moon.

They'd do 100-150k. Nobody knows either of them

They do know them... The Joshua-Klitschko Fight got tremendous viewership in the US.. Josh will be bigger next time he fights because of it.. Everybody in the UK knows who Joshua is.. He's a phenomenon over there.. Why can't Wilder get his sh!t going like that in the US???

Kalan wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Kalan wrote:Wilder would be big in the UK because he's the American entry... The Cuban entry wouldn't excite them as much... Klitschko was big because his name is so big. That was the fight to make. Other than the Fury fight the biggest fight now that Wladimir has retired would be Wilder.

They'd do 90,000 again in Wembley... They could charge PPV in the US and aim for 1.5 million which is 150 million... Actually I doubt very much if they'd do that well -- but if Mayweather-McGregor and GGG-Canelo are blockbuster fights Joshua vs Wilder will draw bigger... Everybody knows it's going to be an explosive fight that's going to have a brutal KO finish.. It's the kind of fight where the undefeated records and KO ratios can be exploited to the moon.

They'd do 100-150k. Nobody knows either of them

They do know them... The Joshua-Klitschko Fight got tremendous viewership in the US.. Josh will be bigger next time he fights because of it.. Everybody in the UK knows who Joshua is.. He's a phenomenon over there.. Why can't Wilder get his sh!t going like that in the US???

Because he's a coward that won't fight Top 10 ranked opponents. What aren't people getting about this?

I'd say take Pulev then Wilder. WBA would say a big YES when it's about a big unification fight with lots of money in it.

Ortiz could fight Povetkin.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

klitoris wrote:If Pulev took step aside for Joshua's next fight, then why can't AJ just fight Ortiz on the already scheduled day in Vegas?

Because the arena would be empty and mgm wouldn't pay nearly the same site fee.

MGM won't pay the same fee, but Ortiz isn't gonna request Klitschko type money. Ortiz is a big enough name that, Joshua would do well in ticket sales if they are priced right. Plus the guy needs to get that US exposure badly right now while still riding on the Klitschko win, especially to build the Wilder fight.

The IBF will definitely strip AJ, however the WBA would bluster a bit and then declare Ortiz Interim Super World Heavyweight champion until such time that he faces AJ...