Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua will never forgive himself if he doesn’t take the rematch with Daniel Dubois to try and avenge his defeat against him. Hearn thinks Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) will say next week, ‘Let’s run it back,’ when they decide on taking the rematch with IBF heavyweight champion Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) or not.
If Joshua doesn’t take the rematch, he’ll face Tyson Fury next, and he could possibly be coming off another loss to Oleksandr Usyk by then. That would set up a valueless clash between Joshua and Fury, both coming off consecutive defeats, and viewed by the public as hasbeens.
The UK fans will still be eager to see AJ and Fury get it only, but people elsewhere won’t see any value in the matchup other than it being a gloried celebrity match.
Interestingly, Hearn is cool to the idea of Joshua taking a couple of gimme fights against Deontay Wilder, Dillian Whyte, and Joe Joyce to get used to winning again. He says Joshua has already had a rebuild job done, and he doesn’t need another one.
He might not but the fans would like to see Joshua get a knockout or two so they can believe in him again. Right now, many of them feel he’s washed up and heading towards another defeat against Dubois.
“What you have is a straight shot at the heavyweight championship against a guy that we believe he should have beaten and we all believe we can beat,” said Eddie Hearn to BoxNation about Anthony Joshua wanting the rematch with Daniel Dubois.
Joshua will have a straight shot at another crack at a world title, but he may live to regret it. Dubois showed that he had his number, dropping Joshua four times and making him look old in the process.
Joshua turns 35 next week on October 15th, and it’s a good idea for him to avoid young sluggers like the 27-year-old Dubois. Fighting Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk would be better options for Joshua because neither of a big puncher, and he would have a chance at knocking them out in a 12 round fight.
“I don’t think AJ will be able to forgive himself if he doesn’t take the rematch. For me, he’ll say, ‘Let’s run it back.’ So, we’ll see this week.
“He doesn’t want knockout wins. He wants the world heavyweight championship,” said Hearn, reacting to a suggestion that Joshua take a warmup fight to get a knockout. “We’re not going to at this stage beat Deontay Wilder, Joe Joyce or Dillian Whyte. It’s not really going to give us any difference from our fight with Dubois.
“I get it; maybe mentally, you go into with a little more momentum. We ain’t got time for momentum. We’ve done the rebuild. The rebuild was done after Usyk. We had four fights, and then we went in with Dubois. If Ben Davison and AJ believe that’s the route, then maybe we’ll do that,” said Hearn.
For marketing purposes, it’s not a bad idea for Joshua to fight a couple of tomato cans to help look good again, and Hearn can tell the public that he’s been rejuvenated and is better than ever. Some of them will believe him just like they did recently after his four-fight rebuild.
“AJ didn’t box well against Dubois. We feel as a team, we can beat Dubois. If we can’t, we can’t, but imagine if we win. Imagine if AJ avenges his defeat against Dubois and becomes a three-time heavyweight champion. It can happen,” said Hearn.
Joshua’s loss to Dubois had nothing to do with him not boxing well, and more to do with his poor punch resistance. He could have boxed the perfect fight, and Dubois would have still gotten to him. AJ would have to be a bigger version of Pernell Whitaker to survive the power shots from Dubois.
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