Eddie Hearn has given an update on Anthony Joshua’s future.
The British heavyweight had been on a four fight win streak until he challenged Daniel Dubois for his IBF title in September.
In the fight he never really got going and was brutally knocked out as he failed to become a heavyweight champion for the third time.
It was widely hoped that Joshua would fight his long-time rival Tyson Fury, but ‘The Gypsy King’ announced his retirement following back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk.
MORE HERE: 🚨 Adult model Sky Bri reveals mystery Manchester United footballer has been DMing her
Eddie Hearn shares what’s next for Anthony Joshua.
Speaking to Betfred he revealed that Joshua has a clear mission and that it is to win heavyweight gold once again.
He said: “Right now because Tyson Fury is retired, so put him to the side, the number one choice for AJ is to fight for the world heavyweight title.
“That’s 99 per cent of what he wants to do and if that’s Daniel Dubois, no problem. If that’s Joseph Parker, no problem.
“If AJ turns around and says that’s what he’s doing, then it’s done.
“It’s not me saying he can’t fight Daniel Dubois. Some people say he shouldn’t have fought Oleksandr Usyk. What are you talking about?
“It’s your job, he’s the mandatory, what do you want to do?
“Give your belt up and have all that criticism that you ducked Usyk and you vacated your belt to do it?”
On the prospect of ‘AJ’ joining Fury in retirement Hearn played it down.
“Not yet, but there will come the time,” Hearn continued.
“Those kinds of conversations really come from behind the scenes from how somebody is performing in camp.
“In camp, if you haven’t got it anymore, it’ll be apparent. The injuries will get worse, you’ll get hurt in sparring against somebody you shouldn’t be getting hurt against.
“You’re not sharp and when that moment comes, that’s when the team will say ‘AJ’s not looking good you know’ and that’s the moment when I will probably have a conversation with him.
“For the Daniel Dubois fight, the camp was great.
“He was super sharp and we were really confident going into that fight, coming off four good wins, two really good wins, and we thought he would win.
“We knew how dangerous the fight was, so he comes out, has a terrible start, never really recovers, comes back into the fight a little bit and gets chinned. No problem.
“If camp had gone really poorly and we were unsure, I think that conversation may have been brought forward.”
