Anthony Joshua is poised to face Oleksandr Usyk at Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium in September.
The WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion of the world and his team had spent months negotiating an undisputed heavyweight title fight with Tyson Fury.
However, legal complications scuppered that all-British showdown and Fury will instead fight Deontay Wilder for a third time.
Joshua has now been forced to look for a different opponent next and has agreed terms to face WBO mandatory challenger Usyk, his promoter Eddie Hearn has revealed.
“I can tell you that this week, that this is a more confident footing than the Joshua – Fury negotiations, because I know Alex Krassyuk very well, and I know Usyk very well,” Hearn told DAZN.
“This week that fight will be signed. We’re looking at September in London. Just finalising the details.
It’s a great fight, a dangerous fight, it’s not the one we necessarily wanted or expected. But it’s a high level heavyweight fight. It’s a unified heavyweight champion against the undisputed cruiserweight champion, and on we go with that fight – it’s a big event.”
As Sky Sports first reported, the Tottenham Hotspur stadium is set to stage the fight.
That was the initial venue for Joshua’s IBF mandatory challenge from Kubrat Pulev last summer before COVID-19 struck.
The bout was instead rescheduled for the Wembley Arena in December in front of a limited number of spectators as they witnessed the Brit deal with the Bulgarian in nine rounds.