The bout will see two former Olympic champions go head to head, and Joshua described it as another “gold medal fight” for him
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The Ukrainian has 53 stoppage wins in his 68 fights, including five in his last eight, a statistic which he claims proves that, despite being 41 when the Joshua clash takes place at Wembley, he is getting better with age
Klitschko’s career has been on hold since losing his IBF, WBA, IBO and WBO belts in a surprising defeat to Tyson Fury in November 2015. Two attempts at a rematch failed because of Fury’s personal problems, leaving the 40-year-old Klitschko in limbo after nearly a decade ruling the heavyweight division
The 27-year-old will take on the former world champion at Wembley Stadium in April 2017 in a fight already estimated to be worth a staggering £42 million, with close to two million people – including 90,000 inside the famous ground – expected to watch on
The 27-year-old will make well over £6.5 million for his third title defence against the 40-year-old in April, with huge projected pay-per-view numbers and the event expected to break the Wembley attendance record
Joshua, 27, has recently begun working full-time again with McCracken, who trained him as an amateur, helping him win Olympic gold at London 2012
The pair have long been tipped to face each other during Joshua’s rise up through the heavyweight ranks, and Hearn made the announcement after the Brit’s third-round stoppage of Eric Molina at Manchester Arena
The challenger was a little more positive in the second, but Joshua patiently took his time and caught Molina with a good left hook towards the end of another tentative round
Should he prevail, Joshua will be set to face former world champion Wladimir Klitschko in a 2017 mega-fight and he must therefore ensure nothing upsets those plans against American Molina
The British Olympic gold medallist will defend the belt for a second time following his seventh-round stoppage win over Dominic Breazeale in June
Joshua defended his world title with a seventh-round stoppage win over Dominic Breazeale in June, and he intends to keep hold of the belt this weekend
The pair had initially hoped to meet on December 10, but a delay in the governing body making a decision on the fight and a minor injury to Klitschko meant that plans were scrapped until next year
Unbeaten Joshua defended his title for the first time with a seventh-round knockout of American Dominic Breazeale in June, having won the belt against Charles Martin in two rounds in April
Asked whether he could fight before November, Joshua told Sky Sports: “No problem with that. I’ve got a slot for November and then we’ve got 2017, which is important
Now Joshua, born in Watford to a Nigerian mother and father, wants to fight on the continent. Joshua, who grew up for much of his early years in Nigeria before returning to UK, says he stays very much in touch with West African culture and hopes to fight there one day
Joshua extends his professional record to 17 successive wins while Breazeale suffers his first defeat in his 18th outing
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn initially suggested that the Olympic champion would fight on July 9, the same night as Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko’s rematch, but it has now been moved two weeks earlier
Martin captured the vacant IBF title in January with a third round TKO of Czar Glazkov due to injury