Anthony Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has mapped out three fights that would be a ‘dream’ year for Anthony Joshua.
Since losing twice to Oleksandr Usyk, and handing his belts over in the process, Anthony Joshua has been quiet – but his team hasn’t.
There has been many names thrown around for potential opponents, and fans were assured that the former champ would be out again soon. At one point it looked like they were close to securing a shot at Tyson Fury’s WBC title in a December mega fight, but talks fell apart – the reason behind the collapse differing depending on who you ask.
With all of the drama and delay surrounding that, ‘AJ’ will now be benched until next year. With plenty available opponents for then, the fighter has told Hearn that he sees little point in taking warm up fights, and wants the big names straightaway.
The promoter told Boxing Social what an ideal year would look like.
“If you’re looking at three fights next for which you hope for him to have, maybe you go Dillian Whyte, [Deontay] Wilder, Fury. I mean that would be the dream year, but probably one of them would be nice the way everything’s going.”
“I do feel that AJ – Wilder is just a massive global heavyweight fight. Two titans that the fight could end at any moment. I think it’s a tremendous fight.”
Fans have indeed been calling for the Wilder match up for some time now, and both teams seem to be more receptive to talks than ever. Having said that, Wilder is on a path for potentially a fourth title fight with Tyson Fury and has been open about his desire to be a champion again.
As for Fury, it’s not worth guessing if a fight can be made after what fans were put through recently. There’s no question that Joshua facing ‘The Gypsy King’ is one of, if not the, biggest fight the sport has to offer. Whether the fighters and the teams can make that happen is much less certain.
But it all begins with Dillian Whyte. It’s unlikely that ‘The Bodysnatcher’ would turn down a rematch with Joshua given the years of calling for it, so if he gets through his November 26th test against Jermain Franklin we can perhaps expect an announcement in due course.