Joshua Has Up To ‘Three’ Fights Left

Eddie Hearn has said Anthony Joshua has a maximum of three fights left before he retires from the sport. 

Joshua is preparing for his next fight, with reports that he will be back in the summer after suffering an injury following his last bout. AJ was knocked out by Daniel Dubois in the fifth round, having been dropped several times as he missed out on becoming the IBF Heavyweight Champion. It was a massive blow since a win would have put him in a position to face Oleksandr Usyk for the Undisputed Heavyweight Title. 

Joshua’s Options

Joshua still has plans on securing the big fights. However, things have been complicated. Tyson Fury announced his retirement following the Usyk losses, preventing Joshua from securing arguably the biggest fight in Britain. There was a narrative in place for them to fight each other since that was the biggest bout available for them. While Fury may be retired, he has previously come out of retirement, as he did so after he defeated Dillian White. Fury is also back in training, increasing hopes that fans will get to see the fight. 

Alternatively, there is the opportunity to face Jake Paul. Paul has said he would like to fight Joshua, something which the latter has not ruled out. Paul is coming off a record-breaking event against Mike Tyson on Netflix, which earned him a reported $40 million. However, Jake will face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. next. If The Problem Child comes out with a win, a Joshua fight may follow.

Equally, AJ may target the Dubois rematch. Joshua was linked with the rematch, only for talks to break down. A Dubois rematch could be even bigger if Daniel comes out with a win against Usyk, making him an undisputed champion. There are also other big fights out there for him, such as those between Martin Bakole, Joseph Parker, and Agit Kabayel. Ultimately, Joshua has to decide whether he wants to chase the biggest purse or more legacy-defining fights. Either way, Joshua’s future will become clearer soon.

Hearn On Joshua

“The next decision is really important; he’s got anywhere between one and three fights left. We’ve got to get it right, but he is 100 percent fighting this year. He is definitely fighting in 2025, when I don’t really know because he’s probably got about two weeks before we can go back to training and start punching properly. That’s been the problem for him, but once he does that, we can start thinking about a realistic date.

“We’re not really in any rush because the decision is so important. Obviously, in a dream scenario, Tyson Fury just wakes up one morning and goes, ‘Yeah, we’ll give everyone the biggest fight in boxing. ’ Probably calls AJ, and then they get a deal done on the phone in five minutes. “But we can’t operate on that basis, so right now we are just looking to meet up in a couple of weeks and go through the options,” Hearn said