This week, Ring Magazine put out a poll asking who fans would like to see former two-time heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua fight next. It’s possible AJ will return this year, but early next year is now more likely, according to Eddie Hearn.
Joshua’s Next Opponent: A Crucial Choice
So, after another career layoff, who should Joshua fight when he climbs back between the ropes?
As of now, the whole Joshua-Jake Paul farce, sorry, fight – or sorry farce, sorry fight, if you prefer – is on the back-burner (hopefully burnt out for good, with sanity returning and seeing to it that this gross mismatch never sees the light of day), what with Paul now going in with Tank Davis in November.
So, Joshua needs a big fight with which to return, right? In fact, it should ideally be nothing but big fights for AJ for as long as he has left in the game, and it might not be all that long. The two massive, they-should-have-happened-already fights Joshua and his fans will always regret not seeing if they do not happen, are AJ-Tyson Fury, and AJ-Deontay Wilder.
Fury’s Potential Comeback
But is there a chance, still, that one or both fights could finally happen? FINALLY. Which of these two still-huge heavyweight showdowns is most in need of saving? Fury, who recently put out some comeback with his dad training signals that may or may not suggest “The Gypsy King” is again looking at returning to the ring, has said more than once that it would be a travesty if he and Joshua never fought; this in a monster Battle of Britain clash.
The Wilder Question
But Joshua and Wilder should also have fought, and should still fight before it’s too late. And, with AJ now moved on (for now at least) from an event-type fight with Paul, Shelley Finkel has just come out and said Wilder will not be engaging in a big event-type fight of his own, this versus Francis Ngannou; at least not this year.
So, why not Wilder-Joshua in December, or in February, or March? And then, fellow fight fan, how about the winner to rumble with Fury (if he does return) next spring? It sounds like a plan, but perhaps a far too optimistic one, I grant you. But bottom line: it’s prize fighting, and for Fury, Joshua, and Wilder, there is no bigger collective prize than the trio fighting out their final months in the sport against each other.
Who would I like to see Joshua fight next? I’d vote Wilder. But for absolutely certain, I’d still pay to see AJ get it on with Fury. With the two winners to then meet.
And then, these three greats – who all may well feel, but will never admit it, that a guy named Oleksandr Usyk never came along – could cash their cheques and walk away, hand-in-hand into the Hall of Fame.
Your thoughts?