[ad_1]
By Keith Idec
The WBA ordered Anthony Joshua on Tuesday to conclude an agreement to fight mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin within 24 hours.
Gilberto Mendoza, president of the sanction organization based in Panama, issued this order because the WBA does not want to wait any longer for an agreement to be reached between Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) and WBC champ Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) for a heavyweight title unification bout. A Joshua-Wilder showdown would be one of Boxing's biggest fights and would make a lot more money than the Joshua-Povetkin-mandated fight, but Joshua's mandatory defense is late.
The WBA granted Joshua promoter, Eddie Hearn, an additional 30 days last month to make an arrangement for Wilder's fight or his mandatory defense against Povetkin. Tuesday morning, Wilder's handlers had not returned a contract signed for a fight against Joshua.
"Today, the WBA has asked for an answer from Anthony Joshua's team regarding his fight against the mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin," Mendoza said in a statement released on Tuesday. "The WBA [has] authorized more than a month the extension of negotiations with Povetkin and also ongoing discussions with Deontay Wilder.
"It seems that Wilder's team has not returned the contract for the fight and therefore we are asking for a date for Joshua's fight against Povetkin with immediate effect."
Joshua, 28, also owns the IBF, IBO and WBO titles.
Veteran Povetkin (34-1, 24 KO) defeated Englishman David Price (22-5, 18 KO) by KO in the fifth round in his last fight. This fight was held on Saturday, March 31 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
The Russian Povetkin, former WBA heavyweight champion, has lost only a 12-round unanimous decision against Wladimir Klitschko in their fight for unification of the title in October 2013 in Moscow.
Since suffering from this disproportionate loss to Klitschko (64-5, 53 KOs), Povetkin has tested twice positive for performance enhancing drugs. His first failure led to the cancellation of his WBC-mandated fight with Wilder in May 2016.
Keith Idec is a writer / senior columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
Keywords:
Source link
