Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev will likely go the rest of the month without reaching a deal for their heavyweight title fight.
The hope, however, is for enough cooperation from all involved parties for just a little more time to bring it to the finish line.
For the second time in less than a week, an extension request has been placed with the International Boxing Federation (IBF) for their pair of heavyweights to keep negotiations for a due mandatory title defense. The previously rescheduled deadline of January 31 has now been pushed back two weeks to February 14, although both sides have expressed confidence in all terms being finalized in time to avoid a purse bid hearing.
The fight was first ordered shortly after England's Joshua (23-1, 21KOs) resumed his role as unified heavyweight titlist following a 12-round victory over Andy Ruiz last December in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The bout avenged the lone loss of his career, suffering a shocking 7th round stoppage at the hands of Ruiz last June in New York City.
While revenge was gained, the initial defeat itself placed Joshua in a bind as he was granted the rematch with California's Ruiz (33-2, 22KOs) only on the condition that the winner would face Bulgaria's Pulev (28-1, 14KOs) by no later than May 31, 2020. It was a stipulation to which Pulev and his handlers at Epic Sports begrudgingly agreed, having initially taken its case to court in order to enforce his mandatory status and block the aforementioned unified title fight rematch.
Pulev landed in the top contender spot following a 12-round victory over England's Hughie Fury in their October 2018 final eliminator. He has since added victories over Bogdan Dinu and Rydell Booker in 2019.
It appears that his second crack at the sport's highest prize will come within the next few months, unless outside parties get to have final say.
Partially contributing to the previous delay in coming to terms for this bout was The World Boxing Organization (WBO) ordering Joshua—a 2012 Olympic Gold medalist and two-tour heavyweight titlist—to next defend versus its mandatory, former World cruiserweight king Oleksandr Usyk (17-0, 13KOs).
Usyk—who is co-promoted by Hearn and K2 Promotions-Ukraine, headed by Alex Krassyuk—has been persistent in demanding a title shot next, although the likely scenario for the 2012 Olympic Gold medalist is a time-marking clash in early spring. Hearn has teased in recent weeks the possibility of the Ukrainian southpaw heading to London for a proposed showdown with veteran trialhorse Derek Chisora.
