After Oleksandr Usyk vacated the IBF heavyweight championship to clear the way, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois will officially meet for the belt on Sept. 21 at Wembley Stadium in England. The fight was announced on Wednesday at a press conference.
In Usyk’s announcement that he was vacating the title, a result of facing Tyson Fury in a rematch rather than facing IBF mandatory challenger Dubois, the heavyweight king declared the move a “gift” for Joshua and Dubois and mentioned the Sept. 21 date.
Dubois trounced Filip Hrgovic on June 1, claiming the IBF interim title with the win. Prior to that fight, Hrgovic was the IBF mandatory and expected the full championship to be on the line. The IBF and Usyk were still sorting things out, however, and instead created the interim belt for the bout. After Usyk’s announcement, Dubois was made full IBF champion.
Joshua is still one of the biggest stars in the division and rebounded from back-to-back losses to Usyk with a string of four straight wins. Most recently, Joshua scored a brutal knockout win over former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. The Ngannou win was something of a statement for Joshua, who has long chased a British megafight with Fury. Ngannou dropped Fury in their bout and won the fight on one of the three official scorecards.
A Joshua win over Dubois would make him a three-time world champion and could potentially set him up to finally get the desired fight with Fury, which would be a blockbuster fight whether Fury wins the Usyk rematch or not.
