Anthony Joshua: British heavyweight ordered to defend WBA title against Luis Ortiz

Anthony Joshua: British heavyweight ordered to defend WBA title against Luis Ortiz

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British heavyweight Anthony Joshua has been ordered by the WBA to defend his title against Cuba's Luis Ortiz.

The 27-year-old had been due to face Wladimir Klitschko in a rematch, before the Ukrainian retired on Thursday.

The WBA says Joshua and Ortiz have 30 days from 3 August to agree the fight.

Joshua, who beat Klitschko at Wembley in April, has also been told he must face IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev before 2 December or risk being stripped of his belt.

There had been plans for Joshua to fight Klitschko in Las Vegas on 11 November and Ortiz's manager, Jay Jimenez, has said his fighter could fill the void.

Jimenez told Boxingscene: "We are next. We have no problem fighting on that date of November 11th in Las Vegas. Our mandatory takes precedent over Pulev's and they know that."

Ortiz, 38, has 23 knockouts from 27 wins, while Pulev, 36, has one defeat in his 26 fights, with 13 stoppages.

Joshua holds two of the four major belts, with New Zealand's Joseph Parker the WBO champion, while American Deontay Wilder has the WBC belt.

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I hope AJ can fight one of them and keep both titles and not be stripped. AJ could fight the other one afterwards. Hope the alphabet boys see common sense.

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Originally Posted by Master

I hope AJ can fight one of them and keep both titles and not be stripped. AJ could fight the other one afterwards. Hope the alphabet boys see common sense.

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I know all these mandatories and threats of being stripped of belts make it nigh on impossible to unify a division

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Originally Posted by Batman

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Originally Posted by Master

I hope AJ can fight one of them and keep both titles and not be stripped. AJ could fight the other one afterwards. Hope the alphabet boys see common sense.

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I know all these mandatories and threats of being stripped of belts make it nigh on impossible to unify a division

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Just remembered what if they get a unification fight in-between. Surely the Wilder fight would be more important than a defence. I assume they would pay the mandatory a fee for not fighting them straight away.

It's in the interest of the venal, corrupt and greedy Alphabet Boys to always only have their 'world' titleholders as single belt champions, that way the fighter is beholden and subservient to the Alphabet commission involved.

Any unified champion gets better public recognition as a rightful champ, and is suddenly bigger that individual commission ...... and they can't tolerate that, can they?

The ibf have mandated Pulev and wba have mandated Ortiz. If I were a betting man I'd guarantee that Joshua opts to fight the out touch klitschko leftover instead of the most avoided heavyweight of the last few years.

Hope I'm wrong but I remember when they chose Eric molina when pretty much any other heavyweight would have been a better fight. I reckon it'll be another year before Joshua's in a decent fight if Eddie Hearn has anything to do with it . The Pulev Ppv will be hard to justify

Not sure how this situation will play out. I hope the sanctioning bodies see sense (not likely, I know) and allow the titles to remain unified. I don't care whose 1st, Wilder, Pulev or Ortiz as long as the title isn't splintered further again. In a perfect world AJ would fight Wilder to unify, while Pulev and Ortiz, and Stiverne vs say Hammer fought to eliminate some mandatories. AJ/ Wilder winner vs Parker/ H. Fury winner to unify all the belts. The winner of Pulev/ Ortiz and Stiverne/ Hammer fight to determine the mandatory challenger. Seems so easy. Can of worms anyone?

I don't mind an Ortiz or Pulev fight at all. You can't complain about the alphabet bodies being so full of shit and at the same time say a unification fight would be so much more meaningful, the way I see it. Pulev and Ortiz are easily on par with Parker and Wilder imo, in terms of records and form. Their not holding titles is purely by happenstance. With Wlad and Fury being out of the picture, you have to put AJ in the top spot and the next 4 or 5 guys are all about on par. As long as it's one of them, you've got a fight.

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Originally Posted by Alpha

Not sure how this situation will play out.

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it's the wba, they will just make up another belt :S


ortiz and joshua are owned by the same promoter too, so i would think joshua isnt about to lose any belts