GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA – Eddie Hearn expects Anthony Joshua to return to the ring in the summer against Tyson Fury or in a rematch with Daniel Dubois.
The 35-year-old Joshua has kept a low profile since being stopped by Dubois at London’s Wembley Stadium in September. An imminent rematch had seemed the likeliest outcome because it represented the IBF heavyweight champion Dubois’ most lucrative option, but Joshua’s apparent reluctance to risk further undermining his prospects of finally fighting Fury contributed to Dubois agreeing, on February 22, to fight Joseph Parker instead.
Fury’s defeat in December by Oleksandr Usyk, and therefore the reality that they will not fight for a third time, has made an overdue contest between he and Joshua considerably likelier. He remains an unpredictable character, however, making Dubois – and not an alternative opponent, as had previously been suggested – Joshua’s other option.
“AJ’s looking to fight in May, June time,” Hearn, his long-term promoter, told BoxingScene. “For me, there’s only really two fights. One is the Dubois rematch, and the other one is Tyson Fury.
“There’s no bigger fight in boxing, commercially, than AJ-Fury. People hate me saying that. Tell me a bigger fight, commercially. It doesn’t exist. Maybe now, with everybody getting on a little bit more, we might be able to be sensible and get it made. But he also wants to rematch Dubois.”
Hearn, of Matchroom and therefore in Australia’s Gold Coast for Jai Opetaia-David Nyika, was then asked if that meant that they were waiting for the outcome of Dubois-Parker before making their next move, and he responded: “Unless Frank Warren and Spencer Brown came on and said, ‘Come on – let’s make Fury’. But I don’t anticipate Tyson Fury talking boxing business in the next couple of months. I just don’t see it.
“At the end of the day he’s going to have January off, isn’t he? February, and then what else are you going to do? You’re either going to pack it in, or fight AJ.
“The Fury fight is so big that you always expect it to happen. But, listen, Dubois has got to beat Parker yet, and I don’t think he will.”
Joshua has previously responded to defeats by changing his training team, but asked if he expected his leading fighter to continue to work under Ben Davison, Hearn said: “Yeah. He didn’t get it right that night, but he’s had a couple of great fights with him. He’s very happy, and I don’t see him changing.”