By Keith Idec

One of the benefits of Anthony Joshua’s next fight taking place at Wales’ Principality Stadium is that it figures to draw another huge crowd.

Promoter Eddie Hearn told London’s Daily Mail for a story posted to its website Tuesday that he anticipates a crowd of “nearly 80,000” for Joshua’s mandatory heavyweight title defense against Kubrat Pulev on October 28 in Cardiff, Wales. The capacity for that stadium is listed as 74,500, but it can accommodate more fans for boxing than for rugby and soccer, the two sports that primarily take place there.

The Joe Calzaghe-Mikkel Kessler super middleweight title fight drew a crowd of roughly 50,000 to that venue, then known as Millennium Stadium, in November 2007. Joshua, however, has become a massive draw in the United Kingdom.

The undefeated knockout artist from Watford, England, helped draw of a crowd of roughly 90,000 to London’s Wembley Stadium for his 11th-round stoppage of Wladimir Klitschko on April 29. Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs) wanted an immediate rematch with Ukraine’s Klitschko (64-5, 53 KOs), but Klitschko decided to retire.

Hearn had planned to bring a Joshua-Klitschko rematch to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on November 11. The capacity for boxing at T-Mobile Arena in roughly 20,500.

“I’m delighted that we will be in Cardiff at the magnificent Principality Stadium for the next step of the A.J. journey,” Hearn told the Daily Mail. “Nearly 80,000 will gather on October 28 to create another unforgettable night of boxing.”

Bulgaria’s Pulev (25-1, 13 KOs) is the mandatory challenger for Joshua’s IBF title. The 36-year-old contender’s lone loss came against Klitschko, who knocked out Pulev in the fifth round of their November 2014 title fight in Hamburg, Germany.

Once the Klitschko rematch fell apart, the IBF threatened to strip the 6-feet-6, 250-pound Joshua if he didn’t make an overdue mandatory defense against Pulev in his next fight. Joshua, 27, also owns the WBA and IBO championships.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.