WBC Prez Embraces Joshua Fighting Fury or Wilder For WBC Title

World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman has embraced the scenario of having Anthony Joshua fight for the WBC heavyweight title.

The current WBC champion, Tyson Fury, will first have to face Deontay Wilder in a trilogy fight, on the tentative date of December 19.

Joshua is defending his WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA titles against mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev, and that fight is also targeted for the month of December.

Joshua and Fury have already agreed on a 50-50 split for the first of a two-fight series in 2021.

Last Saturday night in Brentwood, a major hurdle was removed when Alexander Povetkin knocked out Dillian Whyte in five rounds.

Whyte was the mandatory challenger to Fury's title and he was due a shot, pursuant to a WBC order, by February 2021.

The loss suffered by Whyte has eliminated a potential delay to a full unification in the heavyweight division.

Sulaiman explained that Joshua was very close to being in line for a WBC title shot a few years ago.

"Joshua fought for the IBF title when he was WBC No 2, and he received an opportunity, so we understand and appreciate that he got an opportunity and went in a different direction, however, the WBC was the first organisation to rank him, ranking in the top 10, top five," Sulaiman told Sky Sports.

"We knew the value of Joshua. Joshua to do an ultimate unification with Wilder, if he wins, or Fury if he retains, would be magnanimous."

Frank Warren, co-promoter for Fury, has made it clear that his boxer wants to overcome Wilder and then move forward with a high stakes fight against Joshua.

"Tyson wants to fight AJ and he doesn't want anything getting in the way of that," Warren told Sky Sports earlier this month.

"He wants to get through our contractual obligations [to Wilder], get through that fight and then get onto the fight with AJ. That's the fight that matters, so if we can get Wilder out of the way, that's then the next fight that he wants, and I want, and all the British public, and probably everybody in the world wants - is him against Anthony Joshua."