Eddie Hearn has urged Anthony Joshua to prioritise a fight with Tyson Fury ahead of a rematch with Daniel Dubois.
Joshua suffered the fourth defeat of his professional career on Saturday night as he was demolished by Dubois in five rounds at Wembley.
The 34-year-old is adamant that he will not retire from boxing following his latest setback but becoming a three-time world heavyweight champion now looks a tall order having already been beaten twice by Oleksandr Usyk.
Hearn claims Joshua is demanding an immediate rematch against Dubois but the promoter feels two fights against Fury next year could be a better plan if the Gypsy King is beaten by Usyk in their rematch in December.
‘Him [Joshua], as he’s proven with Ruiz and Usyk, will only want to do one thing which is to rematch Daniel Dubois and put the wrong right,’ Hearn told DAZN.
‘We have within our contract with His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] and Riyad Season the option to do the rematch.
‘I’m pretty sure after all my conversations so far with His Excellency, and we’ll see him later with AJ later today, he wants the immediate rematch, Daniel Dubois will probably have no problem with the immediate rematch, he’s just won the fight by stoppage, and it’s the biggest fight out there for him.
‘Do we want the rematch? Is it the right move next now? Again, taking away AJ’s emotion, taking away the fighter in him, taking away the pride, do we wait until December 21 and see what happens with Tyson Fury [against Usyk]? Or do we jump straight back in to Daniel Dubois?
‘Daniel Dubois is probably going to fight in February, are we ready to go in February? Is that the right move for us? That’s the next decision.
‘For me, we have to fight Tyson Fury before it’s done.
‘I said to AJ the other night, ‘you’ve got somewhere between one and three fights left’, and it all went very quiet on the phone, like the realisation, he doesn’t want to leave the sport, he loves it, but we as a team will make sure he leaves the sport at the right time and you leave when you’re deteriorating, and when it’s showing in the gym, and when you’re not sparring well and you’re getting hurt in sparring – and none of that’s happening, by the way. He was in that camp and they were going, ‘wow’, best camp, best form, everything.
‘If Tyson Fury loses against Oleksandr Usyk, my advice would be for those two [Joshua and Fury] to have two fights in 2025 and then sail off into the sunset, may the best man win.
‘If Fury wins against Usyk, AJ can fight Fury for the unified world heavyweight championship.’
Asked if a decision over Joshua’s next fight will be made after Fury’s fight with Usyk, Hearn replied: ‘No, not necessarily.
‘His Excellency, if he’s doing a show in February, he will want a decision imminently and that’s difficult.
‘We have to go through the medical side as well, go away, get all the scans done, check out the hands, do the rehab, rest, and see when we’re ready to go because it was a tough night at the office.’
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