Anthony Joshua set to defend his three world heavyweight titles against Kubrat Pulev in December but Eddie Hearn says there's a 'strong chance' fight will be held behind closed doors

• Promoter Eddie Hearn insisted Anthony Joshua will fight Kubrat Pulev this year 
• The bout was moved to December to hopefully allow for larger crowds
• Hearn is still hoping to hold the heavyweight showdown at London's O2 Arena

Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua will defend his world titles against Kubrat Pulev later this yr but it’s extremely possible the combat will happen behind closed doorways.

Hearn remains to be hoping to maintain the bout at London‘s O2 Arena and desires to depart it as late as potential in the hope of having fans current. 

He told ESPN: ‘We know AJ’s solely going to combat as soon as this yr, so we wish to give ourselves the very best alternative to deliver in a crowd, and that might clearly be the later the higher.

Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua’s combat with Kubrat Pulev will happen in December.

Joshua’s promoter Hearn admits there is a sturdy probability it is going to be behind closed doorways

‘But it is nonetheless not a gimme in any respect. There’s nonetheless a really sturdy probability that AJ could have to combat behind closed doorways.’

And Hearn mentioned of The 02: ‘Their laws adjust to the federal government, so for the time being they’re closed.

‘So they would want to open up. We’d want to get an understanding from the federal government what’s allowed in arenas. Are you going to open at 50 per cent [capacity]?

‘Are you going to open up 100 per cent? There’s lots of work that has to go into that with the federal government and The O2.’