Nigeria-born British boxer, Anthony Joshua, now has a date and challenger for his next fight.
Joshua who recently was on a visit to Nigeria has been pitched to fight against Kubrat Pulev at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday 20 June.
The fight will be the first boxing match held at Spurs’ stadium, which holds 62,303 people and boasts of a retractable pitch so the turf will not get damaged.
Bulgarian Pulev, 38, is the mandatory IBF challenger to take on Joshua, who holds the WBA, IBF and WBO titles.
Joshua won back the belts with a unanimous points victory over Andy Ruiz Jr. in December in a rematch in Saudi Arabia.
“I am happy to have the opportunity to show the world how strong I really am,” Pulev was quoted as saying on the BBC.
This will be Joshua’s first fight in the UK since beating Alexander Povetkin at Wembley in September 2018.
Joshua who hails from Sagamu was initially due to fight Pulev at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium in October 2017 but the Bulgarian withdrew after suffering a shoulder injury in sparring, with Carlos Takam stepping in to replace him at 12 days’ notice.
Pulev, a former European heavyweight champion, has suffered just one defeat in 29 bouts, a fifth-round knockout by Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015..
His last bout was a unanimous points victory, against American Rydell Booker, in November.
Aside from his prowess in the ring, Pulev is a somewhat controversial figure, with the Bulgarian’s boxing license, briefly suspended recently for a sexual harassment incident.
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