We finally know the date of the full card announcement after weeks of whispers and conjecture that Anthony Joshua will make his comeback to the ring in September. “AJ” is anticipated to make his Wembley Stadium debut for the first time since 2018.
Since teaming up with former Tyson Fury trainer Ben Davison, Joshua’s form and mentality have shown remarkable progress. In his previous two fights, he has knocked out both Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou in commanding victories.
Because of this, the two-time unified heavyweight world champion is regarded by many as one of the best three opponents in the class and appears ready to make history as the fifth boxer to win three titles in the glamour category of the sport.
Oleksandr Usyk was expected to forfeit his IBF world title in exchange for this opportunity. The victor of that fight would face Anthony Joshua later in the year, while Filip Hrgovic and Daniel Dubois would battle for the belt.
With only a few days remaining before Hrgovic-Dubois and no official word from the IBF, it seems as though the victor will instead be given a shot at the vacant title against Joshua in the main event of the highly anticipated bill that also happens to be headlined by the pound-for-pound number one contender, Naoya Inoue.
In an interview with talkSPORT, recently discovered Saudi catalyst Turki Al-Alshikh revealed the date of the Wembley card launch press conference in addition to inviting Jim White and Simon Jordan to this weekend’s “Matchroom against Queensberry” event in Riyadh.
“I would like to see you when I visit London on June 25th for the major press conference to reveal the Wembley card, and I would also like to see Simon Jordan once he returns from his trip to America.”
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As an alternative, the IBF can decide to let Usyk have the world title until their rematch with Tyson Fury, which was given a date today.
This implies that Joshua would have little chance of winning a fight against Hrgovic or Dubois, but if the American wins against Zhilei Zhang this weekend, it might motivate him to take on longtime opponent Deontay Wilder.
Naoya Inoue, meanwhile, has made three successful appearances at super-bantamweight in the last 12 months, and it looks like she plans to stay there at least for the time being.
Liam Davies of Telford may have an opportunity to dethrone the pound-for-pound king on his maiden visit to England (but not the United Kingdom), although there are rumours that Murodjon Akhmadaliev, the previous unified champion, is ahead of him in the rankings.
On June 25, a little more than three weeks after this weekend’s “five versus five,” which is expected to decide Anthony Joshua’s opponent—whether it be by revealing the winner of Filip Hrgovic vs. Daniel Dubois or by witnessing a stunning comeback victory for Deontay Wilder—all will be made known.
