Anthony Joshua could lose a heavyweight title

Anthony Joshua celebrates with his championship belts.

Anthony Joshua wearing knee brace; injury is “no immediate concern”

Heavyweight boxing champion and superstar Anthony Joshua spoke at a Black Lives Matter rally Saturday in Watford, England. While “AJ” was there for a cause, the attention shifted from why he was there, to what he was wearing, as Joshua was seen using crutches and wearing a brace on his left knee while at the rally.

Andy Bell, a spokesperson for Joshua, told ESPN that the heavyweight champ suffered a “slight twinge” in left knee while training. He also added that the brace is being worn on advice from doctors as a precautionary measure and that there is “no immediate concern” about the knee.

Earlier this year, there were talks of Joshua fighting Tyson Fury in a heavyweight unification fight, but those talks practically died on the vine and petered out as Deontay Wilder will execute his rematch clause against Fury.

Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) will next face mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs) at some point in the fall. The date of the fight is yet to be determined. The two were originally set to meet on June 20 in London, but the fight was canceled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Eddie Hearn, who is Joshua’s promoter, said earlier this week that he had a conference call with Bob Arum and Ivaylo Gotzev on finding a place for the upcoming Joshua vs. Pulev bout. Hearn would like the fight to take place in the U.K., but the Middle East and Croatia have also been discussed as possible landing spots for the fight. Hearn also added that the fight is likely to happed in October or November.

Joshua has not fought since avenging his lone shocking upset knockout loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. in December. Joshua outpointed Ruiz Jr. in the rematch on way to an easy unanimous decision win. 

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John Eric Poli