Joshua vs Klitschko superbout set to happen before end of year

ENGLISH boxing sensation Anthony Joshua is the $1.22 favourite at Sportsbet.com.au to defeat Russian Wladimir Klitschko after the IBF granted the pair an exemption to fight.

Joshua was facing being stripped of the IBF title because he was favouring the rematch ahead of a bout against number one contender Kubrat Pulev, but the governing body granted the Watford product leeway, providing the fight takes place before December 2.

Former heavyweight champion Klitschko is at $4.40 to turn the tables in a second bout.

Joshua’s promotor Eddie Hearn said the team never entertained the idea of fighting another opponent.

“We’re looking at all the potential sites for the rematch. It’s not really a case of them having to let us know by a certain date. For us, it’s happening,” Hearn said prior to the IBF’s decision.

Hearn believes the only roadblock between the rematch now happening is a retirement from Klitschko.

“Until [Klitschko] turns round and says ‘no, I’m retiring,’ we’re full steam ahead. At the moment all I can tell you is that it’s happening because we haven’t heard otherwise,” he said.

“The number of offers we’ve had come in from other sites means the money’s so big, I can’t see him not taking it. Even away from the money I think he wants it, I think he looks back and thinks he had Josh in the fifth or sixth. A lot of people gave him a lot of props for it, so why not?”

A rematch between the pair has the potential to break boxing PPV records following their bruising encounter earlier in the year.

Joshua scored a brilliant knockout victory in front of 90,000 in April as he unified the WBA and IBF belts during a pulsating affair that saw both men forced to haul themselves off the canvas.

The 27-year-old finally managed to secure the stoppage in the 11th round – but after coming dangerously close to defeat in the sixth, when Klitschko put him on the canvas.