Britain's Anthony Joshua and Croatia's Filip Hergovic could face each other in the spring in a fight for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) world heavyweight title. At the moment, this belt is owned by the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, who on February 17 will fight with the British Tyson Fury in Riyadh for unification of the world titles.
After that, however, the IBF will most likely vacate the belt, as the winner of Usyk and Fury must make a mandatory defense, but it is much more likely that the two will have a rematch, as is the clause in the contract. Hergovic is the official IBF title contender and a potential challenger to Joshua, who has three wins in 2023 and is on the rise again after two straight losses to Usyk.
"We're currently discussing three potential matchups for Joshua, and all three are huge. But that doesn't include Deontay Wilder. Our goal is for Joshua to fight the winner of Usyk and Fury," commented AJ's promoter Eddie Hearn. Joshua's three potential opponents for March are Hergovic, China's Jalei Zhang and MMA veteran Francis Ngannou, who came close to beating Fury in his boxing debut. /BGNES
