Anthony Joshua will face Kubrat Pulev, the IBF’s mandatory challenger, at Tottenham Hotspur’s 62,000-seater stadium on 20 June.
The Bulgarian confirmed the fight against the world IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO heavyweight champion on Monday.
“The contract is already officially signed,” the 38-year-old former European amateur super-heavyweight champion wrote on his Facebook page. “I am happy to be able to show the world how strong I am.”
Joshua, 30, beat Andy Ruiz Jr on points in a December rematch in Saudi Arabia to win back the world titles Ruiz had taken from him at Madison Square Gardens six months earlier.
Known as “The Cobra”, Pulev challenged for the IBF world heavyweight title in 2014, losing to Wladimir Klitschko in Hamburg on a fifth-round knockout.
Joshua last fought in London in September 2018 when he beat Alexander Povetkin at Wembley Stadium. If Joshua beats Pulev he could be in line for an all-British title unification fight against Tyson Fury.
A third fight between WBC champion Fury and Deontay Wilder is on and set for the United States by early July, the Briton’s promoter Frank Warren said on Monday. Fury took the title in Las Vegas on last month with a seventh-round stoppage of Wilder, who fought the Briton to a split-decision draw in their first meeting in December 2018. Warren had said he wanted Fury to fight Joshua next in a world title unification bout but Wilder had a rematch clause.
“He’s invoked the rematch clause so that is what we are working towards,” Warren told TalkSport radio. “It’s contracted to take place in the States. That is in the contract and set in stone unless anyone agrees differently. But at the moment it is due to take place in the US. It will take place by the end of June, early July – no later than that.”