Anthony Joshua and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, are plotting his next fight for March following his third consecutive confidence-builder against Otto Wallin last month.
In a perfect world, AJ and Hearn would like to wait until the smoke clears from the February 17th undisputed championship fight between IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and WBC champ Tyson Fury, but they can’t afford to.
March return in Saudi
Joshua will be fighting in March in Saudi Arabia, so his next opponent for that card must be decided well before the Fury-Usyk fight to give him time to prepare.
Hearn has already revealed who three contestants that he’ll be picking AJ’s March 9th from this list:
- Filip Hrgovic
- Zhilei Zhang
- Francis Ngannou
Some fans feel it’ll be Ngannou because it’s the type of opponent that the Saudis would be interested in, as they like attention-grabbing fights. Using Ngannou would be one that would create noise, both good and bad.
Most boxing fans would agree that Zhilei Zhang has no chance of being selected for Joshua because he’s too good, and the odds of AJ losing to him would be extremely high.
Although Zhang is 40, he has faster hand speed and is more powerful than Joshua. More importantly, Zhang’s chin & stamina were superior, and he would ruin AJ’s chances of fighting the winner of the second Fury vs. Usyk fight later this year.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Joshua winds up facing the winner of that fight anyway, which would seem very weird, but so would AJ facing Ngannou, with him coming off a loss to Fury.
Just the fact that Ngannou is being considered for Joshua’s next opponent in March tells you that this isn’t about sports. It’s about money and entertainment.
In that case, it makes the Fury vs. Usyk fights unimportant and a waste of time because if this is just about entertainment and money, Joshua should fight Fury next and forget about titles.
Hearn’s Vision: A Two-Fight Plan
“AJ’s a hot commodity right now; you’ve got Fury and Usyk already locked in, but we’re planning our next move, and those conversations have been evolving since that night as we plan a busy 2024,” Eddie Hearn told IFL TV about his fighter Anthony Joshua.
Hearn wants a March and then a summer fight for Joshua, followed by the end-of-the-year clash for the undisputed against the Fury-Usyk rematch winner.
Joshua has always been a hot commodity, even when he was losing to Andy Ruiz and twice to Usyk. He’s popular in England, so all the heavyweights want to fight him.
“The only thing that AJ wants to do is be in massive fights, win the world heavyweight title, and fight Tyson Fury or get another crack at Usyk. I’d love the Fury fight,” said Hearn.
Hearn should have convinced the Saudis to forget about doing the Fury vs. Usyk and just went straight into the Joshua-Fury fight. Why not? If Joshua is going to fight Ngannou coming off a loss for the March 9th Saudi card, it makes it pointless for Fury and Usyk to fight.
