A win for Joshua would have him holding the WBO, WBA, and IBF titles, setting up a superfight with WBC’s Deontay Wilder.
While there seems to be some debate as to whether 2017 was the best year ever for mixed martial arts as a sport, there’s no denying boxing had some blockbuster moments. One of those was Anthony Joshua beating Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium in front of 90,000 screaming fans. Now Joshua will return to action against New Zealand heavyweight Joseph Parker on March 31st, according to RingTV.
Parker currently holds the WBO heavyweight title, and Joshua has the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles. If Anthony Joshua beats Parker, the only major boxing belt left to grab would be the WBC belt, currently around the waist of Deontay Wilder. You better believe the boxing world is rubbing their hands together in anticipation of that one.
This is pretty fresh news, so much so that the fight is currently only verbally agreed to and a venue hasn’t been chosen. But given that the last two of Joshua’s fights have taken place in sold out stadiums, we’d expect this one to be no different. It doesn’t take a recognizable name like Klitschko to drive fans to see this live. Joshua’s fight with late replacement Carlos Takam in October was just as well attended.
According to RingTV, the financial split for the fight is going 65-70% Joshua and 30-35% Parker.