See why Hearn believes Anthony Joshua will still make a lot of money even if does not fight Tyson Fury.

Even though Anthony Joshua lost catastrophically during his most recent bout, Eddie Hearn believes he still has the strongest hand in the heavyweight deck.

Eddie Hearn has opened up on whether or not Anthony Joshua is thinking about retirement as he plots a way back to the top of boxing.

AJ has suffered several high-profile defeats in the last few years after his two losses to Oleksandr Usyk were followed up by battering from Daniel Dubois last September.

That fight saw Joshua relinquish the IBF heavyweight title after he sunk to the canvas in the fifth round at Wembley.

That has given both Joshua – and his promoter Hearn – the challenge of finding a path to rebuild the 35-year-old’s reputation or else call it quits.

A blockbuster all-British bout against Tyson Fury was tipped for some point this year but the Gypsy King, reeling from his own Usyk defeats, retired from the sport last month to close that avenue to redemption for Joshua.

Fury’s decision led to speculation that Joshua may follow suit and also retire. And Hearn admitted that day may not be too far away.

“Not yet, but there will come the time, “ Hearn said. “Those kinds of conversations really come from behind the scenes from how somebody is performing in camp.

Read Also: Anthony Joshua eyes new opponent amid Tyson Fury’s retirement

“In camp, if you haven’t got it anymore, it’ll be apparent. The injuries will get worse, you’ll get hurt in sparring against somebody you shouldn’t be getting hurt against.

“You’re not sharp and when that moment comes, that’s when the team will say  ‘AJ’s not looking good you know’ and that’s the moment when I will probably have a conversation with him.

“For the Daniel Dubois fight, the camp was great. He was super sharp and we were really confident going into that fight, coming off four good wins, two really good wins, and we thought he would win.

“We knew how dangerous the fight was, so he comes out, has a terrible start, never really recovers, comes back into the fight a little bit and gets chinned. No problem.”

“If camp had gone really poorly and we were unsure, I think that conversation may have been brought forward.”

So, with retirement off the cards for the short-term then who are the duo eyeing up for Joshua’s next bout? The answer to that will become clear after this coming weekend.

Dubois will defend his title on February 22 in Saudi Arabia when he takes on Kiwi Joseph Parker. Hearn and AJ’s plan is to fight the victor – whoever that may be.

Hearn told BetFred : “Right now because Tyson Fury is retired, so put him to the side, the number one choice for AJ is to fight for the world heavyweight title. That’s 99 per cent of what he wants to do and if that’s Daniel Dubois, no problem. If that’s Joseph Parker, no problem.

“If AJ turns around and says that’s what he’s doing, then it’s done. It’s not me saying he can’t fight Daniel Dubois. Some people say he shouldn’t have fought Oleksandr Usyk. What are you talking about?

“It’s your job, he’s the mandatory, what do you want to do? Give your belt up and have all that criticism that you ducked Usyk and you vacated your belt to do it?”

Anthony Joshua is training hard to stay ready for his return to the ring in 2025. The former two-time heavyweight champion (28-4, 25 KOs) still hasn’t picked out an opponent for his next fight, but it’s believed he’s waiting for Tyson Fury to announce that he’s coming out of retirement, writes boxingnews24.com.

Promoter Eddie Hearn says Fury is the one they want, but they’re also interested in a rematch with IBF champion, Daniel Dubois.  Joshua, 35, wants to avenge his fifth-round loss to Dubois from last summer on September 21st. The two fought in front of a big crowd at Wembley Stadium, in London. Losing in front of all those fans was a disappointment for AJ, as he let them down. If Fury doesn’t unretire soon, Joshua will need to decide whether to continue to wait or stay busy fighting one of the top contenders.

Deontay Wilder is another guy who Hearn is interested in fighting Joshua. Andy Ruiz Jr. is interested in a trilogy with Joshua, and that’s a fight that would attract a lot of interest.     Joshua’s options are Daniel Dubois, Tyson Fury,  Andy Ruiz Jr, Deontay Wilder, Derek Chisora,  Dillian Whyte and Martin Bakole.
Hearn hasn’t sounded excited about Joshua fighting Bakole. It could be that he feels that the fight wouldn’t sell to the UK market because Bakole isn’t well-known to casual boxing fans. It’s also a risky fight for Joshua because he’s coming off a four-knockdown, fifth-round KO loss to Dubois.

Fighting a dangerous puncher like Bakole in his first fight back sounds like a bad idea. The 39-year-old Wilder is also a risky fight, and he might be more trouble than he’s worth at this stage of his career. It’s too late in the game for a fight between Joshua and Deontay to be worth pursuing.

Anthony Joshua has begun training again for the first time since losing to Daniel Dubois.

The British heavyweight has yet to pencil in his next showdown in the squared circle, having been brutally dropped three times and stopped by Daniel Dubois in September.

He is eyeing a ring return in 2025, and has been linked with a number of fights including against Martin Bakole.

Joshua is expected to wait for the winner of this weekend’s clash between Dubois and Joseph Parker before making his next move.

But in the meantime, AJ has decided to begin working out again.

He posted two videos of training footage, one on the beach shirtless where he still looked in impressive shape.

And his workout continued by night, as he then posted another video of himself boxing against a gazebo, not afraid to use any objects he can.

Fans were trying to spot any clues as to his current condition and potential next fight.

And they all noticed he was working on his defence while throwing punches, keeping his hands firmly up.

One wrote: “He’s keeping his hands up, needs to make sure he does that in his next fight.”

Another added: “Yeah now he needs to keep them up, especially so he doesn’t visit hook city.”

A viewer agreed: “He needs to keep working on his defence to protect his chin.”

Other fans gave a more optimistic take, with one writing: “3x heavyweight champion coming soon.”

One even concluded: “He looks in great shape, he’s going to return with a win.”

But others were less so, with one writing: “Bakole beats him.”

A viewer even joked: “He needs to train his chin instead.”

Despite his defeat, Joshua is still viewed as a leading heavyweight and will be hoping to return into the world title mix this year.

He was first keen to face Tyson Fury in a two-fight deal which was expected to be his main pursuit in 2025.