The usually super strict IBF softened a little today for the good of boxing. Anthony Joshua will not next have to make his mandatory defense against Kubrat Pulev, instead he may pursue the contractually obligated second fight with Wladimir Klitschko provided that the rematch takes place prior to December 2nd.
This was not a given even though it seems like it should have been. The IBF is by far the most strict of the four sanctioning bodies. They stripped Tyson Fury for being contractually obligated to rematch the very same Wladimir Klitschko instead of fighting his mandatory, for example.
Wlad has not officially decided he is going to pursue the rematch at all, but Team Joshua is moving forward as if he is going to. This makes sense as if the Ukrainian great does decide to call it quits instead, it should be pretty easy for Eddie Hearn to put together a fight with Bulgarian mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev on shorter notice.
Anthony Joshua will not be permitted to seek unification before fulfilling his mandatory defense, so it looks like any fight with Wilder or Parker is at least three fights away. Joshua won the belt from Klitschko with a dramatic eleventh round knockout this April in a fight in which he had almost been knocked out himself. Hopefully any rematch can live up to the original.
