Anthony Joshua is expected to return to the ring this summer.
‘AJ’ last fought in September when he was stopped by Daniel Dubois inside five rounds at Wembley Stadium, denying Joshua the chance of becoming a three-time world heavyweight champion.
It was then expected that he would turn his attention to an all-British showdown with Tyson Fury after ‘The Gypsy King’ lost his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk in December, but those plans were dashed when Fury announced his retirement in January.
With several other options seemingly out there for Joshua, including the likes of Deontay Wilder and Martin Bakole, promoter Eddie Hearn has now explained to TalkSport what he expects to happen next, stating that there is only one fight that ‘AJ’ has on his mind.
“The plan and the goal for Anthony Joshua, always from now until he retires is to try and win the world heavyweight champion. To try and become a three-time world heavyweight champion.
“The other fight that we know at the moment is not available is Tyson Fury, he wanted that fight, but if you said to AJ ‘what do you want to do most next’ – He would say ‘I want to fight the winner of Dubois-Parker. I want another shot at the world heavyweight title.’ That’s a natural thing.
“You’ve got Bakole, you’ve got Wilder, you’ve got the winner of Kabayel vs Zhang, they’re all possible fights but you keep hearing about ‘AJ won’t fight this guy and won’t fight that guy.’ Come on, look at his resume.
“There is no doubt in AJ’s mind about who he’s fighting. He will step back in the ring with Dubois at any moment because he wants the gold. We’ve probably only got another year left, two fights, three fights max.”
Joshua’s next fight could become clearer after the Dubois vs Parker fight this weekend, and he has already made his prediction for who he expects to win, though a big obstacle in the way is Usyk, who has made it clear he also wants the winner.
