Anthony Joshua could end up fighting three times in 2023 if all goes according to plan.
Fresh off an April unanimous decision win against Jermaine Franklin, Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn intends for Joshua to fight again both this summer and winter.
Joshua’s first bout would be a tune-up tilt of sorts, and the second would be a super fight in Saudi Arabia against either Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder.
“I think [a rematch against] Dillian Whyte could be a fight [in the summer]. I saw [Whyte] in an interview. He called out Joe Joyce before he got beat [by Zhilei Zhang], so obviously that fight is dead,” Hearn told IFL.
“AJ-Whyte is still for me, it’s a risky fight, but it’s a great fight. That’s up to AJ [if he wants to pass on fighting in the summer] … When someone says, ‘You’re not allowed to have a fight,’ it doesn’t mean you accept that. So we have to see how those discussions look.
“The key for us is to lock in the mega-fight for Anthony Joshua, so everything will step off that. I’m not ruling out a July fight at all, but we’ll see how those discussions go next week.”
In recent days, Hearn has been negotiating with financial backers from the Middle East on behalf of the 33-year-old Joshua (25-3, 22 KOs) so that the British heavyweight can finalize a deal to face either Wilder or Fury in long-awaited matchups.
The former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua has had a 3-3 run since first dropping the titles in 2019 against Andy Ruiz Jr. After regaining his titles, Joshua lost twice to Oleksandr Usyk.
In the midst of the losses, Joshua separated from longtime coach Rob McCracken, handed the reins to Robert Garcia in 2022, but split from him as well after one fight – the rematch loss to Usyk in August.
Joshua named Derrick James as his new head trainer before the Franklin fight.
If Joshua is looking to get further acclimated with James as he revives his career, a stay-busy bout against the battle-tested Whyte (29-3, 19 KOs) could be in order.
Joshua scored a seventh-round TKO win against Whyte in 2015 in a battle between then-undefeated contenders.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.