Anthony Joshua next fight: IBF title shot in doubt after Daniel Dubois victory
Associated PressAnthony Joshua’s chances of winning the IBF heavyweight title in his next fight have taken a hit after Daniel Dubois beat Filip Hrgovic in the Matchroom vs Queensberry 5v5.
Joshua was seemingly waiting on the outcome of Hrgovic vs Dubois to see who he would be fighting at Wembley later this year.
AJ had every reason to believe that his fight would see Oleksandr Usyk vacate the IBF belt ahead of the Brit’s fight, but that may no longer be the case.
Here is everything you need to know about AJ’s next fight and how he and Fury can finally face off.
Anthony Joshua next fight: Daniel Dubois talks begin
Joshua and Dubois have entered talks over a heavyweight fight set to take place at Wembley Stadium on September 21.
Dubois stopped Hrgovic to make himself the next mandatory IBF challenger during their interim title fight.
Usyk, who holds the belt, has requested that he be allowed to keep it for his rematch with Tyson Fury on December 21, setting up another undisputed heavyweight title fight.
If Hrgovic had won, that request could well have been turned down given that the Croatian had been waiting for two years for a crack at the belt. But now Dubois has beaten him, a six-month wait does not pale in comparison to Hrgovic’s purgatory.
“I’ve got to pick them off one by one,” Joshua said when asked about a possible Dubois fight. “It’s not going to be easy, but that’s my mentality.
“So come one, come all… He [Dubois] has worked his way up the ladder, we’ll see what happens in the near future.”
Should Fury beat Usyk in the rematch, and AJ win his respective fight, there could possibly be another undisputed showdown looming on the horizon in what is set to be one of the biggest fights in British boxing history.
Eddie Hearn setes sights on AJ vs Fury
With Fury’s rematch now scheduled for December 2024, fans will likely have to wait until 2025 for AJ to fight Fury. Yet Hearn is cautious that anything could still happen before Usyk steps back into the ring with The Gypsy King.
“So much could happen,” Hearn told Matchroom’s YouTube channel. “I’ve seen a lot of people talk about ‘great time for Usyk to retire’. That’s very kind of them, but also there’s a lot of money to be made in a rematch, and it was a good performance from him, so he might be ready for that [rematch].
“He’s been training for a long time. We’re about to hit June. You’d have to start training in August, end of July. It probably gives him five or six weeks off. Tyson Fury said Usyk broke his jaw; I don’t think that’s true, but it was a high-maintenance fight.
“And Fury’s gonna wanna rest. Don’t forget, Fury’s come out of the [Francis] Ngannou fight [in October], gone into camp for the first date [in February]. That was postponed, he got cut, he stayed in camp. He’s trained for a long time.
“I don’t think Tyson Fury is gonna be over the moon with five or six weeks off, but that’s the obligation, there’s a lot of money. Who knows? If Usyk’s injured, can’t make the date, do you make Fury against Joshua – with the winner fighting Usyk? I mean the answer for me is, ‘Yes, please.’
“But it’s down to His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] and the fighters to make the decisions. They have a contracted rematch, but they have to be physically able to make that date, and I guess that’s the next obstacle to overcome.”
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Anthony Joshua’s last fight
Joshua beat Ngannou with a devastating knockout blow in the second round during their fight on March, 9.
After knocking his opponent down in the first round, AJ got the job done minutes later with a right-hand that left Ngannou out cold on the canvas.
It was the result that many had expected, but Ngannou had proven he was no walkover in the boxing ring during his first professional fight, against Tyson Fury, back in October 2023.
The pair went the distance, with Fury only edging the contest via split decision in a result that shocked the boxing world.
Anthony Joshua boxing record
Joshua’s boxing record stands at 28-3: 28 wins and three losses, with 25 knockouts along the way.
Only Andy Ruiz Jr and Usyk (twice) have got the better of the 34-year-old. Joshua has beaten the likes of Wladimir Klitschko, Joseph Parker and Alexander Povetkin on his way to the top of the sport.
The idea of Joshua fighting against Deontay Wilder is all but done now after the American lost to Zhilei Zhang. The Bronze Bomber said that fighting AJ in London ‘turned him on’, but sadly it seems that the ship has sailed.
For all the biggest results and upcoming fights this year, check out Dexerto’s 2024 boxing schedule.