With his promoter Eddie Hearn telling us this week that Anthony Joshua has undergone successful elbow surgery and that he will fight before the end of the year, there are some suggestions swirling around that AJ could fight… get this, Mahmoud Charr. Nothing is even close to official, but Joshua and Charr went face-to-face this week, this in Oman, Syria, where Charr lives and where Joshua is currently visiting.
The picture of the two going face-to-face has spread across the internet, as has some suggestion that “Diamond Boy” Charr is the man former two-time heavyweight champ Joshua could fight on his ring return. Charr, who has always been a good talker, and was once close to fighting both Tyson Fury and David Haye, only for both fights to eventually collapse, took to social media to tell us all about his stare-down with AJ.
“There is only one giant in Syria,” Charr wrote with a photo of his squaring up with Joshua attached.
Charr? The guy who held a title longer than he held any actual fights?
Charr, 34-5 (30), was last seen losing a reasonably entertaining fight with Kubrat Pulev, and the 40-year-old did once challenge Vitali Klitschko for the WBC heavyweight title — Charr being stopped on cuts. Charr held a spurious version of the WBA heavyweight title, this from November of 2017 to the Pulev fight in December of last year, with Charr making zero defences. Now, who knows, maybe Charr is close to landing a big fight with Joshua. It’s not clear how the fans would react to this fight if it did get made, but it seems certain there would be plenty of negativity hurled towards it.
Joshua’s comeback shortlist looks like a retirement home application
Hearn mentioned a couple of other names who are in the mix as far as serving as Joshua’s comeback foe.
“Two guys that have been discussed, but nothing concrete [in Dillian Whyte and Jared Anderson],” Hearn told Talk Sport.
If the critics would have a field day if AJ signed to fight Charr, imagine how they’d moan and groan if he fought Anderson, who hasn’t looked good since being battered by Martin Bakole. Of the three possible names here, Whyte, who has also looked pretty poor recently, is the best choice as far as being at least somewhat credible as a Joshua dance partner.
