Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua will fight in May or June and start training camp in January. Until then, the former two-time heavyweight champion (28-4, 25 KOs) will have four months off to recover from his fifth-round knockout loss to IBF champion Daniel Dubois on September 21.
Joshua Eyes Bout May/June
Hearn says Joshua, 35, will fight twice in 2025, which he hopes will be against Tyson Fury over two bouts. If not him, a rematch with Dubois (22-2, 21 KO). AJ still wants to avenge his loss, but first on the agenda is Fury if he doesn’t retire.
Understandably, Hearn is pushing hard to rush and make the Joshua vs. Fury fight because both fighters have aged and can no longer be counted on to beat the division’s competition. If Hearn had waited, both guys would have continued to get beaten by younger or even older heavyweights.
While both can still beat many of the top 15 guys, there are more than a handful of heavyweights in the division who would have an excellent chance of beating them.
Hearn says Joshua-Fury and Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn are the two biggest fights in British boxing. He could be right. Fans want to see both of these contests, even if the rest of the world doesn’t.
“In May or June. He is not in full training yet. He’s probably ready to resume training in January,” said Eddie Hearn iFL TV about when will anthony joshua fight. “Right now, you have the Dubois fight (against Joseph Parker) on February 22 and you have to see what Fury wants to do.
“We’re not in a terrible rush. AJ will compete twice in 2025. Once in the summer and once in the winter. If we can’t get Dubois to fight and if Fury doesn’t want to fight, then do you have to make the decision to fight somebody or do you wait for those fights?
“I can’t speak for AJ as to who is ready to fight, but what I do know is that the focus is on Daniel Dubois or Tyson Fury. Of course, (Joshua) has done it all. If he’s got Fury on his resume, he’s beaten almost everyone of his era.
AJ vs. Fury in 2025?
Fury has yet to say whether he will fight Joshua. He was quite upset after a 12-round unanimous decision loss to unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in their December 21 rematch in Riyadh. He believed he had won the fight in three rounds and appeared bitter in the post-fight press conference, lamenting his second loss to Usyk.
As upset as Fury is, the money he can get for a fight against Joshua will lure him back into the ring. He won’t sulk for long when $100 million is waved under his nose by Turki Al-Shiekh for the AJ clash.
“It (Fury) is a tough race, it’s a 50-50 race, but run it twice and see where we are at the end of it. The two biggest fights in British boxing, Eubank-Benn and Fury-AJ, by a mile. Nothing even comes close,” Hearn said.
2024-12-29 19:39:00
