Two-time world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (28-4, 25 KO) is back in training and targeting a date for his long-awaited ring return.
AJ hasn’t been seen in the ring since his fifth-round stoppage defeat to British rival Daniel Dubois in September 2024 at Wembley Stadium. The Watford fighter was floored four times before being counted out in the first minute of the fifth round, as Dubois won the IBF world heavyweight title in the English capital.
After corrective surgery on his shoulder, the 35-year-old has been taking his time in recovery to ensure he is fighting-fit once more.
The Olympic champion said previously that this stage of his career will require careful planning, his long-term promoter Eddie Hearn revealing recently that they are targeting a top-15 opponent. But now, they have mentioned a single name from a proposed list of just 10 fighters who could be next.
Matchroom Boxing promoter, Eddie Hearn, told Sky Sports, “Tony Yoka, he’s definitely on a list of, I don’t know, 10?”
Frenchman Tony Yoka won gold at the Rio 2016 Olympics, four years after Joshua won at the London 2012 Games, so a fight between the pair would pit two Olympic heavyweight champions against each other.
Hearn has looked after Joshua’s career since his pro debut in 2013; he added more details, “I expect it to be a top-20 guy. It’s not going to be top-five.”
That new info rules out the following opponents for AJ: Derek Chisora; Efe Ajagba; Frank Sanchez; Moses Itauma; Michael Hunter; Lenier Pero; Martin Bakole; Filip Hrgovic; Lawrence Okolie; Daniel Dubois; Zhilei Zhang.
However, other world-ranked opponents for Joshua could be Jared Amderson; Nelson Hysa; Bakhodir Jalalov; Richard Torrez Jr; Justis Huni; Dainier Pero; Murat Gassiev; Mahmoud Charr; Giudo Vianello, amongst others.
Eddie continued, “Now he’s back in training and my conversations over the last couple of weeks have been very positive with him locking in a fight date and returning.
“Then I saw the post [aimed at Tyson Fury]. When AJ posts something like that, you know that he’s on.
“He’s like, ‘let’s go, I’m back’, and that’s where we’re up to. So the next move is to lock in that fight in early 2026 and then we want Tyson Fury.
“We expect Fury to have another fight as well, if he’s going to fight AJ. There really haven’t been any conversations. That’s kind of the vibe I’m getting from the team is ‘we’re confident it will happen’, but until we start talking, who knows?
“We’re not just putting all our eggs in one basket to say it’s Tyson Fury because before that we’re going to have another fight and we’ve got to win that one first.”
