THE next opponent for Anthony Joshua could be announced at a press conference on Tuesday, June 26.
His promoter Eddie Hearn spoke to Boxing News yesterday at the Johnny Fisher-Alen Babic launch press conference and revealed the next foe for ‘AJ’ is likely to come from one of three names.
“I’ve seen [Zhilei] Zhang on the list, [Joseph] Parker on the list, [Daniel] Dubois’ obviously on the list,” Hearn said.
“The aim for AJ is to recapture the heavyweight title so if there’s an opportunity to fight for the IBF title then Daniel Dubois would definitely be a front-runner for that fight.”
Dubois put himself into a healthy position last weekend with his stoppage win over the previously unbeaten Filip Hrgovic. The Croat went into the fight confidently but knowing that should he lose then his position as IBF mandatory challenger would be gone. Dubois now must wait on what the governing body choose to do over Oleksandr Usyk. The undisputed heavyweight champion has requested their title be on the line in his rematch with Tyson Fury on December 21. Should that not be granted then ‘Dynamite’ Dubois would fight for a vacant title or be elevated from interim champion to full champion status.
Despite not willing to narrow it down to a “list” of names Hearn confirmed that Dubois, Zhang and Parker are “definitely the front-runners.”
“Daniel’s becoming a dangerous fighter,” Hearn added after watching the Brit beat his man Hrgovic in the Queensberry vs. Matchroom 5 vs. 5 event.
“That was a massive win, took some big shots, kept coming and broke his will really. I know it was stopped on cuts but he looked like he was on his way to stopping him legitimately.”
Zhang thrust himself back into the heavyweight picture with his stoppage win over Deontay Wilder while Joseph Parker holds wins over both men. The rejuvenated New Zealander has fought Joshua before, however, and has made some noise in recent months about a second attempt at trying to beat the former unified champion having lost to him in March 2018 on points.