Eddie Hearn reveals exactly what fight Anthony Joshua wants next
Eddie Hearn reveals Anthony Joshua will not be retiring yet
Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, in an interview with Betfred, has claimed that this year could be the last of Anthony Joshua’s career and confirms “99% of what he wants” is a world heavyweight title fight.
Anthony Joshua (28-4, 25KO) hasn't fought since his fifth-round knockout defeat to fellow Londoner Daniel Dubois in September last year.
Rumours of a fight in Africa with Martin Bakole spread across social media, but nothing has been confirmed as yet.
So Eddie Hearn addressed all the talk by answering directly what's next for AJ.
The Matchroom Boxing Chairman began, “Right now because Tyson Fury is retired, so put him to the side for one second, the number one choice for AJ is to fight for the world heavyweight title. That’s 99% of what he wants to do and if that’s Daniel Dubois, no problem. If that’s Joseph Parker, no problem. If AJ turns around and says that’s what he’s doing, then it’s done.”
Having failed to capture a world title again in a fourth career defeat, questions about whether 35-year-old Joshua should retire from boxing have naturally arisen and circulated around, but long-term promoter, Hearn, answered the critics decisively, “Not yet, but there will come the time.
“Those kinds of conversations really come from behind the scenes from how somebody is performing in camp. In training camp, if you haven’t got it anymore, it’ll be apparent. The injuries will get worse, you’ll get hurt in sparring against somebody you shouldn’t be getting hurt against, you’re not sharp and when that moment comes, that’s when the team will say “AJ’s not looking good you know”, and that’s the moment when I will probably have a conversation with him.”
Joshua was dropped four times by Dubois in four different rounds, in a fight that started disastrously for him and never improved until the fifth round KO.
The Olympic and two-time world heavyweight champion made multiple errors that fateful night under the Wembley arch, his hands held too low down and his chin hanging precariously high in the air, resulting in a one-sided 13-minutes demolition from 'DDD'.
Hearn attempted to explain what went wrong that night for his heavyweight charge, “For the Daniel Dubois fight, the camp was great. He was super sharp and we were really confident going into that fight, coming off four good wins, two really good wins, and we thought he would win. We knew how dangerous the fight was, so he comes out, has a terrible start, never really recovers, comes back into the fight a little bit and gets chinned. No problem.
“If camp had gone really poorly and we were unsure, I think that conversation may have been brought forward.”
Finally, the 45-year-old clarified exactly what's happening with the alleged Martin Bakole fight, “I’ve heard people saying that I won’t allow him to fight Martin Bakole. Shut up, you plonkers! Who’s Martin Bakole? Who do they think he is? The second coming of George Foreman? He lost to Michael Hunter at York Hall.
“Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good heavyweight, but at this stage of his career, my advice is based around the legacy, and of course I’m not going to allow AJ to take a big fight for terrible money, but he’s not driven by money at this time in his career. I’d rather he fought for a world championship, so what would I prefer, the winner of Dubois and Parker or Martin Bakole? Of course it will be the winner of Dubois and Parker.”
