Anthony Joshua To Defend IBF Belt Against Dominic Breazeale

Newly crowned IBF Heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will face an unbeaten American opponent for the second consecutive bout.

Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn recently announced that British rising star Anthony Joshua will defend his IBF belt against Dominic Breazeale on June 25th at the O2 Arena in England.

The bout will be a quick turnaround for the 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist who won the title with a 2nd round TKO win over American Charles Martin just last April.

Rising Star

Along with James DeGale, the 26-year old Joshua is the only British boxer to win both an Olympic Gold Medal and a Professional world title. After winning the silver medal at the 2011 World Championships in Baku, Joshua was the toast of the nation when he won the gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics. He is also the second boxer, next to Joe Frazier, to win a piece of the heavyweight title while still being the reigning Olympic champion.

Since turning pro, Joshua has won 16 consecutive fights, all by knockout and is considered to be one of the sport’s rising stars. And although the big fights for him are unification bouts with Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, Joshua will need to pass another test in the person of Dominic Breazeale.

Unbeaten Challenger

Like Joshua, Breazeale competed in the super heavyweight division at the 2012 London Olympics. Unfortunately, he was defeated by Magomed Omarov in the preliminary round and was eliminated. At that time, Breazeale was the highest ranked amateur heavyweight in the United States. This 30-year old former NFL player and University of Colorado quarterback is also unbeaten in 17 professional bouts and has 15 KOs to his credit. Breazeale was knocked down by 40-year old Amir Mansour during his most recent bout last January 23rd. He won that bout though after Mansour retired in the 5th round.

Joshua is expected to be an overwhelming favorite over Breazeale, although he cannot discredit his opponent’s punching power and size. At 6’7” and 81.5 inches in reach, Brezeale is the first opponent for Joshua who can match him in physical attributes. However, unlike Breazeale, Joshua is a lot quicker and more athletic. The Brit is also considered to have the more powerful punch.

An all-Briton bout between George Groves and Martin Murray are also scheduled for the event promoted by Matchroom Sports. That encounter will be a title eliminator for he WBA world super middleweight title.