Anthony Joshua Eyes returns in May or June, aiming for the first Fury Clash

Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua will fight in May or June and start training camp in January. By then, the former two-time heavyweight champion (28-4, 25 KOs) will have had four months of rest to recover from his fifth-round knockout loss to IBF champion Daniel Dubois on Sept. 21.

Joshua Eyes meeting May/June

Hearn says Joshua, 35, will fight twice in 2025, which he hopes will be against Tyson Fury for two bouts. If not him, rematch with Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs). AJ still wants to avenge his loss, but the first target is Fury if he doesn’t retreat.

Understandably, Hearn is pushing hard to hurry up and fight Joshua against Fury because both fighters have aged and can no longer be counted on to defeat top-level competition. If Hearn had waited, both guys would have continued to get beaten by younger heavyweights or even older ones.

While both could still defeat many of the top 15 guys, there are more than a handful of heavyweights in the division who would have a very good chance of defeating them.

Hearn says Joshua-Fury and Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn are the two biggest fights in British boxing. He might be right. Fans want to see both races, even if the rest of the world doesn’t.

“In May or June. It’s not yet in full formation. He’s probably ready to resume training in January,” Eddie Hearn told iFL TV regarding Anthony Joshua’s next fight. “At the moment, you have the fight with Dubois [against Joseph Parker] on February 22nd and you have to see what Fury wants to do.

“We’re not in a terrible hurry. AJ will fight twice in 2025. Once in the summer and once in the winter. If we can’t get the Dubois to fight, and if Fury doesn’t want to fight, then do you have to make the decision to fight someone, or do you wait for those fights?

“I can’t speak for AJ, who he is ready to fight for, but what I know is that the focus is on Daniel Dubois or Tyson Fury. Of course it is [Joshua] done everything. If he puts Fury on his resume, he boxed pretty much every player of his era.

AJ vs Fury in 2025?

Fury has not yet said whether he will fight Joshua. He was quite upset after his 12-round unanimous decision loss to unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in their rematch Dec. 21 in Riyadh. He believed he had won the fight by three rounds and seemed bitter in the post-fight press conference, lamenting his second loss to Usyk.

As upset as Fury is, the money he can get to fight Joshua will lure him back into the ring. He won’t be sulking for long when Turki Al-Shiekh throws $100 million under his nose for the fight with AJ.

“His [Fury] a tough fight, it’s a 50-50 fight, but do it twice and you’ll see where we are at the end. The two biggest fights in British boxing, Eubank-Benn and Fury-AJ, by far. Nothing even comes close,” Hearn said.