Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua will fight three times in 2024, with the third match happening against the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk rematch. AJ will fight in March, the summer, and then the Fury-Usyk winner at the end of the year.
Eddie says he’s been speaking with the Saudis to decide who Joshua will fight next in March. He rattled off a bunch of names but didn’t seem excited about any of them. A match against Filip Hrgovic could happen in the summer for AJ.
Wilder on Ice, A Door Closes
Hearn states that the Deontay Wilder fight has been parked due to his recent loss to Joseph Parker on the ‘Day of Reckoning’ on December 23rd, and he’s now looking at other options for Joshua to fight in March.
The Saudis aren’t interested in doing the Joshua-Wilder fight so that match-up isn’t going to happen unless they change their minds. Wilder still wants the Joshua fight in March, but that would be a tough sell, given how bad he looked against Parker.
Fury or Usyk: The Grand Prize Awaits
“We just have to keep winning. If Fury beats Usyk, they have two fights. So, if Fury beats Usyk in February, they fight again in August or September. We [Joshua] fight the winner,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV, talking about wanting Joshua to challenge the winner of the second fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk in late 2024.
For Joshua to stay in orbit of the Fury-Usyk winner this year, he’s probably going to need to be matched against another Otto Wallin-level fighter for March and in the summer.
It would be too risky for Hearn to break from the type of opposition that he’s been matching Joshua against since his second loss to Usyk to put him in with someone good for his next two fights in 2024.
Can AJ deliver?
“We have to keep winning. If AJ wins in March, then against whoever it’s going to be twice, that fight is going to be huge [against Fury or Usyk]. If Fury. If Fury beats Usyk, AJ against Fury is absolutely colossal,” said Hearn.
If Hearn wants Joshua to attract interest from fans and redeem him in a real way rather than superficially, he needs to put him in with the general population of the heavyweight division for his next two fights against these dangerous killers:
- Zhilei Zhang
- Jared Anderson
- Frank Sanchez
- Bakhodir Jalolov
It’s unlikely that Hearn will take the chance of letting Joshua fight any of those guys. Two names that Hearn mentioned today were Francis Ngannou and Andy Ruiz. His eyes lit up when he mentioned Ngannou. Agit Kabayel is also a possibility for Joshua.
“I said he’s going to beat Wallin, he’s going to beat Wilder, and then he’s going to beat Fury,” said Hearn. “Obviously, for now, the Wilder fight is parked. But he’s [Joshua] going to win in March, then he’s going to win another in the summer, and then he’s going to best Tyson Fury.
“That’s how I believe it’ll play out. If we don’t get Fury, then maybe another crack at Usyk. For us, it’s about mapping out that year, and that’s what we’re doing at the moment.
“I don’t know. He has a great relationship with Dereck James. Obviously, it’s been very successful with Ben. I’m sure the team will chat and decide what’s best for them,” said Hearn.
Hearn was critical of a fight with Wilder, saying, “He hasn’t beaten anyone” other than Luis Ortiz. Of course, Joshua is in the same boat. The only name on Joshua’s resume is Wladimir Klitschko, and he was 39 years old and still came close to stopping AJ in the sixth round.
