Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Entertainment wants to reinvent the heavyweight boxing scene

After Tyson Fury had to delay his undisputed fight against Oleksandr Usyk to May 18 after sustaining an eye injury in sparring, where does this leave Anthony Joshua in the picture? Could he fight Usyk in the meantime?

Probably not. Saudi Arabia already has a plan in place for any antics between Fury and Usyk to ensure they will step into the ring for an undisputed bout according to their General Authority on Entertainment, Turki Alalshikh.

And AJ is set to take on Francis Ngannou in a devastating match-up between two of the biggest punchers on the entire planet. AJ was previously a two-time unified heavyweight champion and is an Olympic gold medalist whilst Ngannou dominated the UFC and even dropped Fury in their 2023 fight.

But even if AJ manages to emerge victorious against the Cameroonian, he is not next in line from the Saudi’s point of view, to have a go at Usyk or Fury once they settle their undisputed bout in a few months’ time anyway.

“If Anthony Joshua beats Francis Ngannou,” MMA Fighting said, reporting back on Turki Alalshikh’s words. “He is unlikely to fight the winner [of Fury vs. Usyk] immediately.”

So what is AJ’s post Ngannou future?

Joshua will be left needing a fight to fill his time, no matter the outcome against Ngannou, and at the moment he looks set to take on Filip Hrgovic.

The Croatian boxer is a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist and at the age of 31, seems ready to begin to earn his shots at the belts. He possesses a record of 17 wins with 14 by way of knockout, including a victory over Zhilei Zhang in 2022.

Usyk’s spectre looms large over AJ

But there is one problem to AJ‘s future. Usyk is under pressure to defend his IBF belt against their chosen mandatory fighter otherwise it could be stripped from him. And the name of that fighter? Filip Hrgovic.

So the Croatian is potentially one fight away from being a unified world champion and Joshua is not an easy test for anyone to take on, why would he risk it when he could inherit the belt if Usyk is stripped?

The IBF ruled that he was the next to fight Usyk in August 2023 and with the Ukrainian only set to fight in May, it looks likely that he will be waiting for over a year before he gets the chance to have that title shot.

But according to Frank Warren, the IBF ensured that they would not strip Usyk as long as the fight took place by March 2024. Will they afford him extra time to fight Fury and then Hrgovic so AJ can eventually fight the Croatian too?