Anthony Joshua’s future: Hearn waits for fighter’s call

Promoter Eddie Hearn said Anthony Joshua will decide when he’s ready, if he’s ready, and no one else gets a vote. Two of Joshua’s people died in a car crash in Nigeria. Joshua was in the car. He walked away with minor injuries. The other two didn’t.

Hearn spoke carefully to Sky Sports News. “That’s not a conversation that I think anyone’s comfortable in having in terms of asking what could be next or what he’s thinking,” he said.

Joshua has been through losses before. He’s been stopped, hurt, embarrassed in big  fights. He came back from those. This is different. You don’t bounce back from watching two people close to you die in a crash you survived. The sport asks fighters to compartmentalize everything. Ignore doubt, ignore pain, ignore the voice saying it’s not worth it. That works until something happens that can’t be ignored.

“What happened to him is not normal and it’s heartbreaking for everybody involved, particularly the families of Sina and Latz, who were so incredibly loved,” Hearn told Sky. The families got mentioned second. That’s how these things go. The fighter is the story, even when he shouldn’t be.

The heavyweight picture without him

Joshua hasn’t held a real title in years. He’s been a name, a draw, someone who still sells tickets because people remember what he was. But the division moved on. Usyk beat him twice. Dubois knocked him out. Fury’s fighting for legacy scraps. If Joshua walks away now, it doesn’t leave a gap in the title picture. It just removes one more fight people were still willing to pay for.

“I do think he’s going to want to return to boxing, but that’ll be his decision when the time’s right,” said Hearn. Maybe. But wanting to and actually doing it are separate things. The sport doesn’t care about timing. Fights get made when they make sense financially, not when a fighter feels ready. If Joshua takes six months, a year, the fights that were there might not be anymore. Dubois could lose. Fury could retire. The moment passes.

Hearn said Joshua needs his time “physically and mentally, emotionally, spiritually before he makes a decision on his future.” That’s a lot of qualifiers for someone who used to just show up and fight. Fans don’t wait. Promoters don’t wait. The heavyweight division keeps turning, and fighters who step away usually stay away.