By Edward Chaykovsky
Olympic gold medal winner Anthony Joshua (15-0, 15KOs) is about to be offered a world title eliminator against veteran Carlos Takam (33-2-1, 25KOs). The IBF has stated that a final eliminator is going to be offered to both men, with the winner moving forward to take on newly crowned champion Charles Martin.
Martin captured the vacant IBF title on January 16th with a third round TKO of Czar Glazkov at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The IBF has given him a period of one year before his mandatory defense is due.
Takam and Erkan Teper are the next two fighters in line, under the IBF's rankings, for a world title eliminator. Teper was recently suspended for a period of two years after testing positive for steroids.
IBF championships chairman Lindsey E Tucker told Sky Sports: "Teper and Takam are the next two, but if there is a problem with either one, we would go to Joshua. If Teper is out, yes it will be Takam and Joshua. They will be fighting for the number one position, which is the mandatory challenge. We would give them the standard 30-day negotiation period and then if they did not reach the decision we would call for a purse bid..
Takam has won three fights in a row since suffering a brutal tenth round knockout at the hands of Alexander Povetkin in October 2014. Takam was last in the ring on November 28th, winning an eight round decision over George Arias.
Joshua is set to return at London's O2 Arena on April 9. He last fought on December 12th, when he was extended seven rounds to score a knockout over domestic rival Dillian Whyte. His promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport is not dropping ant hints regarding the opponent.
Hearn told Sky Sports: "We have opportunities everywhere and a list of fighters calling AJ out longer than my arm. Stay tuned for next week's announcement."