Hearn: Povetkin poses ‘massive danger’ for Joshua

The fight is expected to happen in September.

As Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn works on putting the finishing touches on a heavyweight title defense between Anthony Joshua and Alexander Povetkin, Hearn says he’s planning to hold the fight in September but is still looking as specific dates and venues.

“We’re fighting Povetkin in September and we’re looking at multiple venues and dates,” Hearn said. “We have a deal with Povetkin agreed to, but it’s not signed yet.”

Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) is most recently coming off a title unification bout with Joseph Parker back in March and while many fans were hoping to see an undisputed title unification with Deontay Wilder next, that wasn’t exactly in Matchroom’s plans.

So instead Joshua will take on his WBA mandatory challenger in Povektin (34-1, 24 KOs) who just crushed David Price in March. Povektin has won 8 straight fights since his lone defeat to Wladimir Klitschko in 2013, but has had some recent problems testing positive for performance enhancing drugs.

Talking about the impending match-up between Joshua and Povektin, Hearn describes it as:

“Massive danger. I don’t like the fight,” Hearn said. “I think it’s a mad fight to take with the Wilder fight at the door, but that’s AJ. He thinks him and Povetkin is a great fight, a great statement and he’s one of the best heavyweights. He’s not taking easy touches waiting for Wilder. By fighting these guys, Wilder can’t say he’s afraid to fight him.”

Hearn maintains that if Wilder really still wants to fight Joshua then they can target an April 2019 fight in the U.K.