Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua wants the rematch with Daniel Dubois next, but he may not be physically ready for it in February.
Hearn is unsure whether Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) should delay the rematch decision until the summer or wait for the outcome of the December 21st Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk II fight and make Joshua-Fury next. Hearn says Joshua will make his decision in the next three weeks.
However, he says this since AJ suffered a fifth-round knockout loss to IBF heavyweight champion Dubois on September 21. It’s pretty obvious that Hearn will continue to delay Joshua’s decision for his next fight until the Fury vs. Usyk rematch on December 21.
Hearn says these are AJ’s two options:
- Fight rematch with Dubois: According to Hearn, this is Joshua’s preferred choice for his next fight, but he is not sure if it is the best route for him to take.
- Tyson Fury: If Fury defeats Usyk to become the unified WBA, WBC and WBO heavyweight champion, Joshua could fight him for the three belts in a huge mega-fight.
As Hearn talks, he seems to be leaning towards Joshua taking the Fury fight next, which makes sense. Dubois is too powerful, young and rugged for the 35-year-old Joshua to have any real chance of avenging the loss.
It would be insane for Joshua to fight Dubois again when he can make a bundle of dough fighting Fury. Even if Fury loses the rematch with Usyk, it’s still a wiser choice for Joshua to face Tyson next.
“Anthony instructed me that the fight he wants is with Dubois. The question is, will he be ready for February?” asked Eddie Hearn iFL TV on whether Anthony Joshua will take the rematch with Daniel Dubois next.
“That would mean we go back to camp in three weeks, and after a few body checks we should be 100% OK. So, that’s the delay. Do we fight in February, or do we wait until the summer? And if we do, AJ’s choice is to rematch Daniel Dubois,” Hearn said.
Who is Hearn trying to make here? It’s clear that Joshua is delaying his decision until he finds out what happens in the Fury-Ushyk II rematch because there is so much cash in fighting Fury. It’s so clear that this is the fight that Hearn and AJ both want. They don’t want to mess with that young lion Dubois and find a second hideout.
“He would say, ‘I’ll only do it in February,’ but we have to get it right. So, that’s the decision we’ll make over the next few weeks. Do we wait until summer, or do we jump in? I don’t want to jump in if he’s not ready to go back to camp. No,” Hearn said when asked if Joshua could take a fight between a rematch with Dubois if he has to wait until the summer to be ready for that showdown.
How much time does Joshua need to be ready? He’s already been out of the ring licking his wounds for a month since being wiped out by Dubois. Does he really need four more months on top of the one month he already had to get ready for the rematch? It just sounds like Hearn is making excuses for why Joshua shouldn’t have to come at Dubois again and face his fate.
“Listen, there are two things that are going to happen. One, he rematches Daniel Dubois, which is his choice, or second, we see what happens on December 21, and we fight Tyson Fury. That’s all that’s going to happen. There is no interest in any interim battles. There is no interest in any warm-up fights. He just wants the biggest fights out there,” Hearn said.
Of course, Joshua is not going to take an interim fight because he might lose. There is the possibility that the punishment AJ took in his fifth round blowout loss to Dubois could have weakened his already shaky punch resistance to the point where he could even lose to Ham & Eggs.
“Of course he’s a fighter. He wants to avenge his loss, but if Tyson Fury wins (his rematch against Oleksandr Usyk), then you have Fury vs. AJ for the unified heavyweight championship. If Tyson Fury loses, you have some fights that could be the end for both men. I know obviously in AJ’s mind if you give him the option, he wants to try to avenge his loss,” Hearn said.
Hearn should come clean
It would be more refreshing if Hearn had just come out and admitted that he wanted Joshua to fight Fury rather than Dubois. Nobody honestly believes that Hearn wants Joshua to ever fight Dubois again under any circumstances because the outcome of that fight is so clear.
Dubois is completely wrong for Joshua and would beat him 100 out of 100 times. It has nothing to do with AJ’s age. This version of the 27-year-old Dubois would have beaten Joshua at any point in his strategically engineered career.
