- Anthony Joshua insists he is ready to “rock and roll” with Oleksandr Usyk, if a WBO title defence is enforced next after his points win over Andy Ruiz Jr.
Anthony Joshua insists he is ready to “rock and roll” with Oleksandr Usyk, if a WBO title defence is enforced next after his points win over Andy Ruiz Jr.
Britain’s heavyweight star regained the WBO, WBA ‘super’ and IBF titles in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night, and WBO president Paco Valcárcel was quick to tweet that mandatory challenger Usyk must receive a title shot within 180 days.
“In 180 days? Let’s rock and roll mate,” said Joshua at his post-fight press conference, when asked about Usyk.
“No problem,” he added.
“There’s an IBF mandatory, there’s a WBO mandatory,” promoter Eddie Hearn said
“His WBA mandatory was Alexander Povetkin. Nobody wanted to fight Alexander Povetkin at the time, he took care of that mandatory as well.
“Kubrat Pulev is the IBF mandatory, Oleksandr Usyk is the WBO mandatory, and I see him wanting to take both of those fights as well.”