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Anthony Joshua should vacate 2 belts to fight Wilder, Fury - Frank Warren

Tuesday, December 31, 2019 at 8:38 AM by Akan Anwankwo

Anthony Joshua will have to relinquish his WBA, WBO and IBF belts in order to fight the winner of Tyson Fury versus Deontay Wilder, according to promoter Frank Warren.

The British heavyweight has been longing to have a fight with WBC champion Wilder in order to become the first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999.

The 31-year-old is already looking at the possibility of vacating one of his belts in order to face Kubrat Pukev and Oleksandr Usyk.

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Pulev is the mandatory challenger for the IBF title, while undefeated Usyk is the WBO's number one contender.

But Warren has suggested that AJ should let go of his belts if he wants the career-changing fight with Fury or Wilder.

Wilder and Fury are set to lock horns on February 22 with the WBC title on the line at the MGM Grand Arena and the winner likely to fight Joshua.

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"If I was Anthony Joshua I wouldn’t fight again until we know the winner of this fight [between Wilder and Fury] - and then make them make the fight.

"I’d let them strip me of my titles, and not fight anybody until the big one," Warren told Telegraph.

Discussing Joshua's potential opponent Pulev, Warren added: "The one thing about Pulev is that he can whack.

"So for me, I would say: you know what - I want to fight the winner of our fight [Wilder-Fury II].

"Get all the parties together, work something out, maybe with some step-aside [where mandatory opponents are compensated for giving way]. Because that’s what the public want.

"They want to know who’s the No 1. The No 3 and the No 4 fought in Saudi. The No 1 and No 2 are fighting on February 22.”

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