Anthony Joshua’s plans to become a three-time world heavyweight champion have hit a snag.
The Watford powerhouse is in a primed position to fight for the IBF title should it become vacant, as expected, after Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk do battle for all the marbles on May 18.
Multiple reports claim Joshua will box IBF mandatory Filip Hrgovic for the soon-to-be-vacated title in his next outing in either June or July.
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But Hrgovic’s coach, Ronnie Shields, insists a bout between his fighter and Daniel Dubois is in the works for June 1 in Saudi Arabia.
Speaking to W.A.W Boxing, Shields said: “We just found out that Hrgovic is going to be fighting on June 1 and it’s possibly going to be against Daniel Dubois in Saudi Arabia.”
The IBF are next up in the sanctioning body rotation system and so will have the opportunity to order Hrgovic to face the winner of Usyk vs Fury after their inaugural encounter.
However, the heavyweight titans are tied into a two-fight deal so they won’t be able to accept the call.
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The IBF has already confirmed that they will strip the winner of the undisputed showdown should they proceed with their rematch and instead order a fight for the vacant belt between Hrgovic and the next highest-ranked boxer.
Currently, that is Joshua who is placed at No.3 in the major sanctioning body’s world heavyweight rankings with No.2 still unoccupied at the time of writing.
Although Shields did not confirm whether Hrgovic vs Dubois would be for the IBF belt it is definitely feasible as ‘Triple D’ is ranked at No.4.
The IBF may choose to elevate Dubois to the vacant No.2 spot when their rating panel meets again next month and then proceed to order a world title fight between Hrgovic and the British boxer.
It seems more than likely that this fight, if signed, will take place on the undercard of Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev’s undisputed light-heavyweight showdown, which is currently pencilled in for June 1 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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Dubois has been campaigning for a fight with the Croatian puncher in recent weeks.
Taking to social media last month, he directed a call-out video at Hrgovic.
“I heard you’ve been calling out everyone else’s name but I can’t hear my name. Are you ready? I’m ready.”
