Anthony Joshua looked back to his best in a five round beating of Otto Wallin this month, and thoughts have quickly turned to who he might face next.
There’s no doubt that the two-time heavyweight world champion’s form is down to consistent activity. The dominant performance over Wallin was his third fight of the year, and fans will want to see that trend continue into 2024.
Writing in his column for The Mirror, Barry McGuigan suggested Filip Hrgovic, Zhilei Zhang or Daniel Dubois for ‘AJ’s next outing.
“Now Deontay Wilder is out of the equation Anthony Joshua is looking for an opponent to meet the box office demand in Saudi Arabia.
If he is back in the game after the victory over Otto Wallin, as his promoter Eddie Hearn claimed, let’s see Joshua in against Filip Hrgovic, Zhilei Zhang or even Daniel Dubois.
Joshua did his job against Wallin.He will probably want to wait for the winner of Fury and Usyk but that could go to a rematch.
It will be fascinating to see who they pair him with next now Wilder is cooked. Ultimately 2024 is about regaining a world title for Joshua, preferably against Fury, probably in Saudi.”
Hrgovic seems to make the most sense given that he’s number one with the IBF – a belt that’s set to be stripped from the winner of Tyson Fury against Oleksandr Usyk following their undisputed fight as a rematch clause will prevent a mandatory defence.
If Joshua and Hrgovic don’t fight for that vacant strap, ‘AJ’ has already been called out by Zhang. The Dubois bout – despite a solid win over Jarrell Miller from the younger man – is much less likely.