Anthony Joshua’s rumoured fight with Daniel Dubois has been made official, with the British heavyweights set to clash at Wembley Stadium on 21 September.
Dubois will put the IBF title on the line after being upgraded from interim champion, due to Oleksandr Usyk vacating the regular belt.
Dubois, 26, won the interim title by stopping Filip Hrgovic in June. At the time, Usyk held the regular belt, having outpointed Tyson Fury to become undisputed champion in May.
Usyk is due to box Fury for a second time in December, but that bout will no longer be for undisputed status, after the Ukrainian gave up the IBF strap.
Therefore, Joshua (28-3, 25 knockouts) will get the chance to regain one of the three titles that he lost to Usyk when he challenges Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs).
Joshua, 34, lost the unified belts in his first fight with Usyk, in 2021, and he failed to regain them from the unbeaten Ukrainian in 2022. “AJ” has since put together a fine run, however, winning four straight fights – three of them via knockout.
Joshua outpointed Jermaine Franklin last April, before stopping Robert Helenius in August and Otto Wallin in December. He then knocked out ex-UFC champion Francis Ngannou this March.
Dubois’s win over Hrgovic was his second straight knockout victory since he failed to dethrone Usyk in August. The Briton was stopped by Usyk in Poland, but he has since bounced back with TKO wins against Jarrell Miller in December and Hrgovic in March.
Both of those victories were earned in Saudi Arabia, like Joshua’s last two wins, and the Britons’ September clash will be a Riyadh Season event – the second to take place outside of the Gulf state.
In August, the Saudis will stage a fight card in Los Angeles, headlined by Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov.
