Sport

WBA gives green light to Anthony Joshua to fight Wladimir Klitschko

Prospective December bout scuppered by boxing politics and a minor Klitschko injury

Anthony Joshua is hoping for a world heavyweight title unification bout against Wladimir Klitschko. Photograph: Steven Paston/PA
Anthony Joshua is hoping for a world heavyweight title unification bout against Wladimir Klitschko. Photograph: Steven Paston/PA
Wed Nov 02 2016 - 14:12

Anthony Joshua has been cleared to fight Wladimir Klitschko for the vacant WBA heavyweight title next year.

British fighter Joshua, who claimed the IBF world heavyweight title in April, will have to beat American Eric Molina in Manchester on December 10 for the Klitschko clash to go ahead.

A prospective December bout against the Ukrainian was scuppered by a combination of boxing politics and a minor injury sustained by Klitschko.

Confusion over whether the WBA title, vacated by Tyson Fury in October, would be on the line was one of the reasons a fight between Joshua and Klitschko was originally put on the back burner.

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But with the WBA now officially sanctioning the clash, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has revealed he is now hard at work on securing a date.

“It’s been an arduous wait to gain official approval but we were delighted to receive the news that the WBA will official sanction the fight between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko for the WBA super title,” Hearn said on www.matchroomboxing.com.

“We will now move forward with (Klitschko’s manager) Bernd Boente and Team Klitschko in planning the date and venue knowing that victory against Eric Molina in Manchester on December 10th is more important than ever.”

Matchroom said the fight would be staged in “spring 2017”.

Klitschko lost the WBA belt to Tyson Fury last November, along with the IBF title.

The latter sanctioning body insisted on a rematch, leading Fury to vacate that belt which was won by Joshua against Charles Martin in April. Joshua then defended it against Dominic Breazeale.

Fury then relinquished his remaining WBA, WBO and IBO titles in October and stepped away from the sport to battle mental health issues.

Molina, a 34-year-old Texan, has won 25 of his 28 career bouts and stretched WBC champion Deontay Wilder to the ninth round before being stopped in June last year.

Joshua said of the announcement of the Molina fight on Tuesday: “I am pleased that everything is now set for December 10th and I can concentrate on getting the business done in the ring.

“There has been plenty of talk about who I may face but all I’m doing is concentrating on finishing Molina in style and putting on a great show.”