Trio of boxers wait on WBA ruling

The WBA are set to make a decision this week on who will fight for their heavyweight world title belt that was vacated earlier this month when Tyson Fury choose to seek treatment for his outside the ring issues.

Talks have been in place for some weeks now between the parties of IBF champion Anthony Joshua and former WBA title holder Wladimir Klitschko about the two men meeting at the Manchester Arena on December 10th. In the boxing betting, Joshua is 8-11 with 32Red.com to win that bout, while Klitschko can be backed at 11-10. The fight was close to being made before Klitschko announced that a calf injury will keep him out of the ring until the first quarter of 2017.

Klitschko is happy to face Joshua in Manchester if the WBA put their belt on the line as well as the Englishman’s IBF crown. The Ukrainian has not been seen in a ring since his surprise defeat to Fury last November where he was the 1-5 clear favourite with Boylesport to win the fight. The defending champion was beaten on a unanimous decision in Dusseldorf to lose his title to the younger boxer.

At the age of 40, question marks have been asked about what Klitschko still wants to achieve in the sport. However, he is keen to remain in boxing and is determined to be a world champion once again in the heavyweight division.

“Nicola Adams & Anthony Joshua” (CC BY 2.0) by DancesWithLight

Joshua’s team have said their man will definitely fight in December – however, that opponent has yet to be named. It was initially thought the former Olympic champion would take on his mandatory IBF challenger Joseph Parker, however, once Eddie Hearn caught wind of the Fury-Klitschko fight being off, he immediately went on a mission to try and make a mega-fight with Klitschko happen for his man.

Joshua remains unbeaten as a professional boxer after 17 fights. His latest defence of the IBF crown he won against Charles Martin back in April was against American Dominic Breazeale when the Brit retained his belt following a seventh-round stoppage to justify his odds of 1-10 with Sportingbet.

A fight between Joshua and Klitschko could see both men make up to £5 million each as it would not only be a huge fight in the UK but markets in Germany, Ukraine, Russia and USA would be very interested in bidding for the television rights to the contest.

If the WBA decide against putting their belt on the line for the two men this week, they could sanction a fight between Klitschko and Australian Lucas Browne for their crown. The latter won the WBA regular belt against Ruslan Chagaev back in May. Browne was later stripped of the belt for failing a drugs test and was given a six-month ban.

The Australian heavyweight is unbeaten in 24 fights and has won 21 of those contests by KO. He is trained by former world champion Ricky Hatton. Big Daddy, as he is known, is still hoping to clear his name from his drugs ban and a win over Klitschko would elevate him as one of the leading forces in the heavyweight division but he would be the outsider to win that fight with 32Red.

If a deal between Klitschko and Browne is made, that would force Joshua’s team to find a new opponent for their next fight. They could resume talks with Parker who has earned to chance to face the IBF champion following his win over Alexander Dimitrenko in his recent fight in Auckland.

Another option for Joshua would be the European heavyweight champion Kubrat Pulev. The Bulgarian won his European crown when he beat Dereck Chisora in Hamburg last May.  The Cobra has one defeat on his professional record and that came against Klitschko in 2014 when he was knocked out by the Ukrainian in the fifth round.

Hearn will also consider a fight between Joshua and Luis Ortiz who is the interim champion with the WBA. Matchroom recently signed up the Cuban to their stable therefore Hearn would have no problems making that fight happen.

The world of boxing would love to see a Joshua-Klitschko fight in what would be one of the most important fights for the heavyweight division, however, if the WBA do not sanction that contest for their belt, there are many options for both Joshua and Klitschko. Either way we could end 2016 with all of the world titles in the heavyweight division occupied by champions leaving some huge unified contests open to be made in 2017.