Anthony Joshua reportedly hasn’t exhibited any coronavirus symptoms, despite attending an event with Prince Charles earlier this month in London.
A spokesperson for Prince Charles, the son of Queen Elizabeth II and the heir to the British throne, announced Wednesday that he tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday. The 71-year-old Prince of Wales is self-isolating in Scotland to help prevent spreading the virus that has caused a worldwide pandemic.
England’s Joshua, the IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion, appeared at a Commonwealth Day service also attended by Prince Charles on March 9 at Westminster Abbey, a famed church in London. Joshua also is self-isolating at his home as a precaution.
“AJ is at home following government guidelines,” a spokesman for Joshua told London’s Daily Mail on Wednesday. “He is fit and well. He wishes everyone affected a speedy recovery and a huge thank you to all the front-line key workers.”
Joshua’s spokesperson didn’t say whether the 2012 Olympic gold medalist has been tested for coronavirus.
The 30-year-old Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) is tentatively scheduled to make a mandatory defense of his IBF championship against Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs) on June 20 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, has said their 12-round title fight could be postponed until July 25 because Tottenham Hotspur’s home soccer schedule has been altered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Joshua regained his heavyweight titles from American Andy Ruiz Jr. on December 7 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. The 6-feet-6, 237-pound Joshua out-boxed Ruiz (33-2, 22 KOs), of Imperial, California, in their 12-round rematch and convincingly won a unanimous decision (119-109, 118-110, 118-110).
Ruiz scored one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight history six months earlier, when he knocked down the heavily favored Joshua four times and stopped him in the seventh round June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.