Anthony Joshua in huge boost to fight for world title he has NEVER won… but why it all depends on Daniel Dubois
ANTHONY JOSHUA could finally get the chance to fight for the WBC title – but it all depends on Daniel Dubois.
Joshua, 35, has twice held the unified WBA, IBF and WBO versions of the belts – but never the iconic green and gold WBC.
The strap is currently held by Oleksandr Usyk, 38, after he took it from Tyson Fury, 36, and then defended it in his pair of points wins last year.
But he had to vacate the IBF title to proceed with his December rematch with Fury – which he won via disputed decision.
Dubois, 27, was meanwhile elevated from interim champion to the full version – knocking out AJ in his first defense in September.
He now puts it on the line against Joseph Parker, 33, on Saturday night in Riyadh – with Usyk in line to fight the winner.
That would make it for all four undisputed belts again – so Agit Kabayel and Zhilei Zhang contest for the interim version on the undercard.
Winning that trinket title automatically puts the winner in line to challenge for the full version or be elevated in the event of the champ being stripped.
And WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman is open to Joshua fighting for the WBC interim belt this year against either Zhang, 41, or Kabayel, 32.
Sulaiman told SunSport: “Very possibly Anthony Joshua could fight the winner and then the winner would be the interim champion.
“What we’re trying to do is to give the fans the best fights possible.
“We are administering within our rules that give us plenty of room to be ordering or managing the divisions for the benefit of the industry
“So that is a very doable thing if Anthony Joshua is to fight the winner of Kabayel-Zhang – absolutely it would be an WBC interim title fight.”
