Frank Warren says Anthony Joshua ‘has to work’ if he wants to get back to the pinnacle of the heavyweight division following a split decision loss to Oleksandr Usyk.
Warren, who promotes WBC Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury, spoke to Boxing Social following Usyk’s second victory over Anthony Joshua. The fight saw the Ukrainian cement his status as unified heavyweight champion. In doing so, according to Warren, he put ‘AJ’ out of the title picture for the foreseeable.
“That’s his [Joshua’s] third loss and if he carries on, maybe he will maybe he won’t, he’s in the catch-up club now.”
“You know all these guys [like Joe Joyce] they’re all past him. They’re in front of him. If he wants to get a seat back at the table, he’s got to work his way through.”
The idea of Joshua, who apologised for how he handled defeat in the immediate aftermath, working his way back to the top could throw up some intriguing fights. The owner of Queensbury Promotions is keen to include a couple of his heavyweights in the mix.
“There are some great domestic fights for him. There’s a great fight between him and Joe [Joyce], you’ve got Daniel Dubois, there’s a few other fights there for him.”
“If he gets some wins under his belt, who knows, maybe Tyson [Fury].”
Fans now look to Tyson Fury, who declared he could beat both Usyk and AJ in the same night, to confirm that he wants to pursue undisputed status. Warren knows this is the case.
“All anybody cares about at the moment, as far as that unification is concerned, is seeing that fight between Usyk and Tyson [Fury].”
The fight would crown an undisputed heavyweight champion for the first time since Lennox Lewis. There’s no doubt that all parties, including Warren, will be working behind the scenes to get that fight made.