Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has outlined Anthony Joshua’s next options as he eyes up a heavyweight world title or a potential shot against one of the biggest names in the division, following on from his impressive performances under Ben Davison.
Joshua teamed up with Davison ahead of his showdown with Otto Wallin in December off of the back of disappointing displays against both Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius. However, their partnership saw Joshua rediscover his killer instinct and knock out the tricky Swedish southpaw in a one-sided beatdown.
However, in an interview with Boxing Social, Hearn admitted that the allure of a potential battle with Deontay Wilder could delay Joshua’s title challenge.
“Anything can happen, honestly. There has been a lot of conversations obviously, we know that the Riyadh season card has been locked in for Los Angeles on August 3rd and also there is the possibility of that London card at Wembley in September.
“Then you have got Wilder-Zhang, then you have got Hrgovic-Dubois, see what happens with the IBF title but literally anything can happen.”
“You have got two things; the IBF title freeing up potentially and the allure of the Wilder fight. If Wilder comes through Zhang, which I believe he will, everyone is going to start talking about Joshua-Wilder again.
“That is definitely a fight that His Excellency likes, ‘AJ’ is up for that fight, he would of course love to win a heavyweight world title again, he would love to fight the winner of Fury-Usyk but at the moment nothing is locked in, because of all of the upcoming fights. We will see what spits out on May 18th and June 1st.”
The IBF world title is expected to be vacated shortly after Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk on May 18th, with Filip Hrgovic and Daniel Dubois set to go head-to-head for the vacant belt on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol undercard on June 1st.
