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Hearn eyes Tottenham stadium for Joshua’s next fight

Eddie Hearn has hinted that Anthony Joshua’s next fight will be at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next year as the boxer begins his second reign as world heavyweight champion.

Joshua defeated Andy Ruiz Jr at the purpose-built Diriyah Arena in Saudi Arabia on Saturday to reclaim his WBA, WBO and IBF titles. Joshua had lost to Ruiz at New York’s Madison Square Garden earlier in the year.

Attention is now turning to Joshua’s next fight and the state-of-the-art Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is considered to be the favourite to host any potential bout. Promoter Hearn has previously said that the stadium would be “perfect” for a future fight involving Joshua, who has already fought at Wembley Stadium and Principality Stadium.

Speaking following Joshua’s win at the weekend, Hearn said, according to The Guardian: “Wembley doesn’t look great, date-wise. Tottenham Hotspur is a nice new stadium for a UK fight. We’ve got to look at it. I think the phone has gone crazy and it’s like, ‘Bring him here, bring him here.’ They’ve seen what we’ve done here and there’s a lot of options internationally but he does want to box back in the UK.

“We spoke to Spurs about hosting this fight, which they were keen to do, but unfortunately the dates didn’t work out. They would be keen to do it and it would be a nice stadium to do it in London.”

Tottenham’s 62,000-seat stadium opened in April and recently staged two NFL American football games. The Joshua fight would likely take place in April or May next year.

Image: Tottenham Hotspur