In response to his promoter Eddie Hearn, former two-time heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua is at present “in a very good place,” this even though the final time we noticed AJ field he was fairly brutally KO’d by Daniel Dubois. However Hearn, in talking with BBC Sport, stated Joshua will likely be taking an enormous struggle subsequent day trip, both a rematch with Dubois, or a struggle with Tyson Fury.
“It’s bizarre saying it after a knockout defeat, however AJ is definitely in a very good place,” Hearn stated. “We’re going to struggle Dubois or Fury subsequent. That’s it. No different curiosity or warm-up. AJ desperately needs revenge however the one problem is timing. For the rematch to occur in February, coaching camp must begin in a few weeks. It could be irritating if we made the Dubois struggle and Fury gained (the rematch with Oleksandr Usyk). Then we’re sitting there going, ‘Grasp on a minute, we’re preventing Dubois, however we might have fought Fury in Could for the most important struggle in boxing.’ Win or lose, we are able to struggle Fury subsequent summer season. But when he wins, AJ fights him for the world title.”
This all sound nice for Joshua, however issues could not work out the best way Hearn suggests. For one factor, if Fury does beat Usyk of their rematch, there’s reportedly a contract in place for the 2 to struggle once more in a rubber-match. In the meantime, Frank Warren has stated Dubois will certainly struggle in February, and that if it’s not towards Joshua will probably be towards one other top-five contender.
After which there’s the matter of what occurs if Fury loses, and badly, within the Usyk rematch – would possibly Fury determine to name it a profession and retire? It’s doable. For Joshua, it appears it’ll come down as to whether or not he goes forward with the dangerous Dubois rematch in February, or if he waits and sees what occurs in Saudi Arabia on December 21.
But when Joshua doesn’t safe the February struggle with Dubois after which sees Fury both defeat Usyk after which signal on to struggle the Ukrainian a 3rd time, or if Fury loses in December after which retires, Joshua will likely be out of luck so far as getting both of the 2 massive fights Hearn says will occur for him in his subsequent ring outing.
At this stage, all we followers can do is watch and see how all issues heavyweight pan out. However there’s a good probability Joshua’s subsequent struggle may very well be towards somebody apart from Dubois or Fury.
