Anthony Joshua’s success since partnering up with Ben Davison has got the country believing that he has what it takes to become boxing’s fifth three-time champion of the heavyweight division. With talks of a Wembley title shot looming, Eddie Hearn has now revealed that there is an alternative opponent that his poster boy could face instead.
The Watford-born 34-year-old was bewildered by Oleksandr Usyk on two occasions, losing his unified heavyweight crown as a result.
Joshua got back to winning ways with unconvincing displays against Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius before making the switch to Davison – who appears to have helped him rediscover both his confidence and killer instinct, knocking out each of Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou.
Now Joshua is well-poised for a shot at the heavyweight throne and it is widely expected that he will take on either Filip Hrgovic or Daniel Dubois for the soon-to-be vacant IBF belt, assuming Usyk is stripped for not taking on his mandatory challenger.
Although, speaking with DAZN, Eddie Hearn revealed that he and Joshua could be persuaded to visit an old rival in Deontay Wilder, if ‘The Bronze Bomber’ can dispatch of Zhilei Zhang on Saturday’s ‘Queensberry versus Matchroom; five versus five’ bill.
“The frontrunner to fight AJ next is the winner of Hrgovic-Dubois and likely to meet [him] for the [IBF] world title. At the same time, if Deontay Wilder comes and looks sensational, maybe it reignites Joshua against Wilder.
“We [Joshua] will likely fight in September and we will be having our eyes peeled for both of those fights on Saturday night.
“His Excellency is talking about a press conference as soon as June 24th or June 25th for a press conference in London, I heard him say today in an interview [with talkSPORT]. The card is really shaping up, myself, George and Spencer and His Excellency are brainstorming on all of these fights, ‘AJ’ is set to headline – we will find out against who on Saturday night.
Hearn went on to confirm that Anthony Joshua will be in attendance in Riyadh this weekend, eyeing up each of Filip Hrgovic, Daniel Dubois and Deontay Wilder – knowing that one of that trio will be the next man to attempt to disrupt his world title charge.
That fight will headline what is sure to be the United Kingdom’s standout blockbuster boxing event of the year at Wembley Stadium, as Turki Al-Alshikh promises a star-studded bill, similar to that of Israil Madrimov vs. Terence Crawford which was delivered for fans in the United States.
No names are confirmed as of yet, but there are suspicions that the arguable pound-for-pound number one Naoya Inoue could return for a second contest on British shores. Murodjon Akhmadaliev is the name being thrown around as his potential opponent – rather than Telford super-bantamweight Liam Davies, who would surely be salivating at the prospect of taking on ‘The Monster’ on home soil.
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