Eddie Hearn, when speaking with IFL TV, said that while there is nothing concrete as far as who Anthony Joshua will fight next, his next bout is set to take place at Wembley in September, and a press conference will take place at the end of the month, with the opponent announcement made then. There are currently three names in the mix as far as who AJ will face on Turki Alalshikh’s next big card: Daniel Dubois, Joseph Parker, and Zhilei Zhang.
Hearn said that if a chance comes up for AJ to fight for the full IBF belt, this is the fight he will go for. As fans know, Dubois became the IBF interim heavyweight champion with his upset stoppage win over Filip Hrgovic. Plenty of fans think quite strongly it will be Dubois next for AJ, this in a Battle of Britain affair. But Hearn says “there’s nothing agreed or confirmed,” as far as who Joshua will fight in his second fight of this year; AJ, of course, scoring that crunching KO win over Francis Ngannou back in March.
“His excellency would like AJ to headline at Wembley,” Hearn said. “It would be incredible for Riyadh season and for British boxing, who the opponent will be is undecided. You’ve got Zhilei Zhang, a great fight; you’ve got Daniel Dubois, another great fight. You’ve got Joseph Parker, who’s on a great run…….The aim for us is AJ to become world heavyweight champion [again], and if the IBF belt becomes available, which we expect it to, then there’s a chance of Dubois against AJ for the world heavyweight title.”
As everyone knows, Oleksandr Usyk is, and will continue to be, until he is either defeated in the ring or he retires THE world heavyweight champion. Still, it would perhaps be a bargaining asset AJ would win if he were to defeat Dubois and claim the full IBF strap. Then, maybe Joshua would go into a massive fight with the winner of the Usyk-Tyson Fury rematch. Maybe.
For now, as far as who AJ fights in September, Dubois really does have to be looked at as the frontrunner, even though Zhang and Parker would be very interesting opponents for Joshua. Both Parker and Zhang want a shot at revenge over AJ; Zhang having been decisioned by him at amateur level at London 2012, Parker dropping a decision against Joshua back in 2018.
Of the three names listed here, who would YOU prefer to see Joshua, 28-3(25) fight in his next fight? Again, all three fights are interesting, but for me, there is something about a Joshua-Zhang rumble that really fascinates.
Hearn says we will all know a lot more come the presser set for either June 25th or June 26th.
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