Povetkin is now next for Joshua

ANTHONY Joshua’s next bout will be against Russian Alexander Povetkin, promoter Eddie Hearn has said.

Joshua was yesterday given a 24-hour deadline to sign to box Povetkin or face being stripped of a portion of his world heavyweight title.

Hearn has been negotiating for a unification bout against WBC titlist Deontay Wilder but the WBA has lost patience and wants him to face its own mandatory challenger.

WBA president Gilberto Mendoza said: “The WBA requested an answer from Anthony Joshua’s team regarding his fight with the mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin.

“The WBA have allowed over a month’s extension to negotiations with Povetkin and also ongoing talks with Deontay Wilder.

“It appears the Wilder team have not returned the contract for the fight and, therefore, we are requesting a date for the Joshua versus Povetkin fight with immediate effect.”

The demand did not appear likely to cause Joshua’s team too many issues given negotiations with the Wilder camp appear to be deadlocked and former champion Povetkin represents the next-best bet for a stadium-filling autumn bout.

Hearn had indicated he was close to agreeing a deal with Wilder but the American’s team claim to be holding out for “clarifications”.

An irked Hearn said: “We can’t do a lot more than we’re doing. I think Anthony’s frustrated that he feels people feel he might not want the fight with Wilder. He wants that fight more than anything.

“We sent the contract nearly nine days ago now.

“If I wanted a fight, my fighter wanted a fight, and we received a contract, we would be back with the comments within 24 hours. Nothing makes sense here at all.”