EDDIE HEARN has revealed the timeline for Anthony Joshua’s return following the collapse of his clash with Deontay Wilder.
AJ’s £100million two-fight deal with the American went up in smoke last month after the American suffered a shock defeat to former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker.
REUTERSAnthony Joshua was on course to fight Deontay Wilder twice this year[/caption]
GETTYWilder’s shock defeat to Jospeh Parker put paid to those £100million plans[/caption]
GettyPromoter Eddie Hearn reckons AJ will be back in action in March[/caption]
The first of the duo’s back-to-back fights was set to take place in Saudi Arabia on March 9.
And a spring return to action is still very much on the cards for the Brit, even though a long-overdue showdown with Wilder isn’t.
Matchroom Boxing chief Hearn told iFL TV: “I think he’s gonna fight in March.
Hearn is hoping Joshua can replicate the schedule he had in 2023, in which he fought three times in the space ten months.
He continued: “Then I guess he fights in August, September, so whether it’s three times in the calendar year or three times from March to March, something like that.”
A showdown with mandatory IBF title challenger Filip Hrogovic was seemingly in the pipeline for AJ after his dispatching of Otto Wallin last month.
But Hearn admits there are currently a lot of unknowns about the clash with Croatian clubber.
He said: “A lot has to happen by March to make that possible with Hrgovic.
“Obviously, [Tyson Fury and [Oleksandr] Usyk fight in the middle of February.
“Are they gonna be able to keep the belt? Do they have to let it go? Is Joshua just gonna replace Wallin in the rankings? There’s a lot of discussions.
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A showdown with Francis Ngannou could be in the offing for AJGETTY
If that’s in play for March, that’s definitely a possibility. Maybe that’s a fight that, when everything plays out, could be one for the summer.
“As I said, our conversations right now are about mapping out AJ’s next four or five fights … his 2024 and potentially the rest of his career.”
One fight Hearn is open to AJ having is a crossover clash with former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.
He said: “Right now, we have three fights that we’re in discussions for.
“They’re all big and that doesn’t involve Deontay Wilder for March. Our aim, and they’ve expressed this is to fight the winner of Fury-Usyk.
“That’s all we want to do, obviously there’s the Hrgovic fight out there for the world heavyweight title.
“There’s a Francis Ngannou fight out there which would be absolutely colossal.
“There’s other heavyweights as well, there’s a Zhang fight possible as well with Queensberry.”