Google News
Former champion Anthony Joshua suffered another heavy defeat in his last appearance. He was outboxed for the second time by the excellent Oleksandr Usyk and defended the titles he took from him before, so for now it is certain that Joshua will have to come up with some big wins if he wants to attack Usyk again who holds the WBO, IBF, IBO and WBA titles in heavyweight.
Tyson Fury also called Joshua names last month and gave him an ultimatum on several occasions to sign the contract by the end of that day, otherwise no fight. Hearn and Joshua didn't agree to that, and Fury found a new opponent, Derek Chisora, and Joshua still hasn't started negotiations for the next match.
But regardless, his promoter Eddie Hearn says that Anthony will fight "anyone". "He [Joshua] wouldn’t want a soft touch, that would work against him," Hearn said. "The last thing AJ wants is a gimme fight. And we are not interested in gimme fights, there has to be an element of risk." "I don't sit here today, as someone who represents Anthony Joshua, devastated that fight didn't happen," he told Talksport.
"He wanted to take it, so I was all in, but it was a very quick turnaround for him in a fight of that magnitude."
On possible opponents, he added:
"I think he's going to fight [in] January or February, early next year.
I think the fight you'll see is Dillian Whyte against Anthony Joshua," he added. "Wilder is [also] definitely a fight for 2023. He's got to fight Andy Ruiz Jr in a final eliminator for the WBC, which is a tremendous fight. I think AJ vs Wilder might just be the biggest fight in boxing, you only need the edge of your seat to watch that fight.
It's super dangerous and someone's going to sleep, but it's two fast, explosive, huge punching, heavyweight machines." "I think you'll see either Wilder or Fury against AJ next year, but I think you'll definitely see the Dillian Whyte fight if he can get through Jermaine Franklin." "Look at the top 15.
You’ve got Filip Hrogvic, who just won but I thought it was a poor performance from him. Zhang Zhilei, who looked good, Otto Wallin had a very close fight with Tyson Fury." Who Joshua and the team will choose, we will find out in the period that follows, although probably of these three names, most fans would like to see the fight between him and Wilder.