Anthony Joshua has his sights set on defending his IBF heavyweight crown against Eric Molina, but once his business his done on December 10, he'll have another world title fight set.
After weeks of deliberation, the WBA announced that it will sanction a fight for its "super" heavyweight title between Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko, which will take place in the spring of 2017.
The two boxers were negotiating a fight on December 10, but one of the obstacles that occurred during negotiations was whether or not the WBA would give its blessing for the fight to have it's world heavyweight title on the line. The title was previously vacated by Tyson Fury due to his personal issues after he defeated Klitschko for the title last year.
Klitschko's manager Bernd Boente told ESPN that he hopes Joshua wins his upcoming bout so that the two heavyweight titans can finally square off in the ring.
"Team Klitschko is very happy about this WBA resolution," Boente said. "Wladimir always was a proud and committed WBA 'super' champion and now he wants to regain his title. From the beginning, Wladimir made clear how important it is to him that the WBA title is on the line in his next fight. Hopefully, Anthony Joshua wins his upcoming fight against Molina and then we have a mega event, a promoter's dream fight coming true in March or April. Two Olympic super heavyweight gold-medal winners fighting each other, the young lion challenging the old lion. This is a fight each boxing fan around the world wants to see."
The news comes hours after it was announced that Joshua would fight Molina due to a Klitschko injury that prevents him from competing on December 10. Both Joshua and Klitschko wanted to schedule the fight for next spring,
Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn said that while the Joshua camp is happy about the news, and that the plan is to unify both Joshua's IBF title and the vacant WBA title, the fight against Molina "requires Anthony's full focus."
Klitschko previously held the WBA "super", IBF, WBO, IBO, The Ring, and lineal heavyweight titles until losing all of those titles to Fury last November. Klitschko has not fought since then.
