Former two-time heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua has undergone successful elbow surgery, so reports his promoter Eddie Hearn, and he will look to get a fight in before the end of the year. It’s now been over eight months since Joshua last fought, this the disastrous KO loss he suffered at the hands of Daniel Dubois back in September. But Hearn insists his fighter is far from done and that there are still some big, big fights out there for him.
These big fights include Joshua vs. Tyson Fury, and Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder. Hearn refuses to believe Fury will stay retired without having fought AJ in what would be a monster of a fight in the UK, while Hearn says the Wilder fight can still happen if Wilder can get some momentum going in his upcoming return to the ring.
Speaking with ESPN, Hearn said Joshua will be “good to go in the middle of September.”
“He’ll only fight once this year” — but who’s left?
“He’ll only fight once this year,” Hearn said of Joshua. “He’ll be good to go by the middle of September, and by then, we will know for sure if Fury is going to return or not. But [Joshua’s comeback foe] will also depend on what happens in the Dubois-Usyk fight. I like our spot in that respect, and if none of them are available, we’re going to fight someone else. I just don’t think [Fury] will be able to leave it alone. You know why? Because he’s not declining. He’s still at the peak of his powers and it’s very difficult to walk away from a fight like Anthony Joshua when you’ve still got it.”
Does AJ have anything left in the tank?
But has AJ still got it? We don’t know how much confidence or self-belief that nasty KO loss to Dubois took from 35-year-old Joshua. How will Joshua’s punch resistance hold up when he fights again?
Hearn wrapped things up by saying that “the focus is on Fury first and possibly Dubois if he can get through Usyk.” While that Joshua-Wilder fight is one Hearn “won’t rule out at all.”
How will the heavyweight landscape look in September? Will Usyk still be on top, or will Dubois go down as the first man to have beaten him? And will all three former champions, Fury, Joshua, and Wilder come back here in 2025?