Anthony Joshua’s defence of his IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO heavyweight world titles against mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev scheduled to take place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday June 20 has been postponed.
A new date for the event promoted by Matchroom Boxing and 258 Management in association with Top Rank and Epic Sports Entertainment is currently being worked on.
The promoters will announce any updates in due course and continue to explore the possibility of hosting this fight at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The June date was looking very unlikely after the British Boxing Board of Control had canceled all events through May, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Several big fights cards have already been postponed to dates in July, but there is no concrete indication that large gatherings will be allowed by then.
Matchroom's Eddie Hearn had mentioned a tentative date of July 25 for Joshua-Pulev, which he felt was far more probable for the event. Because of the pandemic, Hearn's company will closely monitor the state of the UK before making any official announcement.
Joshua and Pulev were first scheduled to face each other back in 2017, with Pulev withdrawing due to injury and later being replaced by Carlos Takam, who gave the unified champion a tough fight before suffering a TKO defeat.
Pulev would eventually climb back to a mandatory position to re-secure his bout with Joshua.
Joshua has been out of the ring since December 2019, when he reclaimed his world titles with a dominant twelve round unanimous decision over Andy Ruiz in Saudi Arabia. Pulev saw action back in November, when he picked up a ten round unanimous decision over Rydell Booker.
