After a solid year of wins in 2023, Eddie Hearn has been discussing the the potential fighters he is looking to line up for Anthony Joshua next.
The last 12 months have been useful for Joshua following two points losses in 2021 and 2022 at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk. He got back to winning ways with a decision over Jermaine Franklin in April, then a knockout of Robert Helenius in August.
There was then an even quicker win over former Tyson Fury foe Otto Wallin on the Day of Reckoning card in December, his biggest and most impressive victory of the year.
That last win has led many people to believe Joshua is back to his destructive best. The original plan was for him to take on Deontay Wilder in March but, with Wilder losing to Joseph Parker, that fight has fallen by the wayside.
Despite missing out on that clash, Joshua is now looking ahead to a big year in which he hopes to become a three-time world heavyweight champion.
“Right now, we have three fights that we’re in discussions for, they’re all big, and that doesn’t involve Deontay Wilder for March. Our main aim is to fight the winner of Tyson Fury versus Oleksandr Usyk.”
He then listed the other options.
“Obviously there’s the Hrgovic fight out there, for the world heavyweight title, there’s a Francis Ngannou fight out there which would be colossal, there’s other heavyweights as well, the [Zhilei] Zhang fight with Queensbury.”
It was put to him that a rematch with Parker might be an option then Hearn summed up the main aims for Joshua this year.
“Parker is difficult, we beat him and unified, but that was five years ago. Joseph has earned the right for a big fight, so we don’t rule that out either. The things that ‘AJ’ wants to do is be in massive fights, win the world heavyweight title and fight Fury or get another crack at Usyk.”
One man who was impressed with Joshua was Wallin, who claimed he was a much tougher opponent than Fury.
