The weekend of July 9th was already a monumental weekend of sport.
There's McGregor vs Diaz 2, the Munster hurling final, the Euro 2016 final (Ireland vs TBC), the Wimbledon finals, the Tyson Fury vs Wladimir Klitschko rematch and now - more than likely - another heavyweight title fight.
Last night, Anthony Joshua won the IBF heavyweight belt with an easy win against Charles Martin. The American lasted just four and a half minutes in the ring with the 2012 Olympic gold medalist. Twice Joshua had Martin on the canvas in the space of 30 seconds. No more could he endure.
There's plenty of hype around Joshua - though Tyson Fury is not a believer. Some of it has been earned by the 26-year-old, much of it has been provided with suspicious ease.
Joshua's first title defence, according to his promoter Eddie Hearn, is slated for the weekend of July 9th. Exactly who the opponent will be is not yet known.
In teasing the fight, Hearn also had a little dig at Tyson Fury's marketability and longevity as champion.
July, it was always going to be the ninth. We’ll have to take a look at the top 15 (of the IBF heavyweight rankings), a lot of the guys are taken up.
If he’s ready, I don’t see why we can’t get back early July. That’s the plan. That was why Sky turned down the Fury-Klitschko fight; they see AJ as the future.
The plan would be to build AJ as a Pay-Per-View fighter in America as well.
Start clearing you schedule now.
