Eddie Hearn makes honest admission about Anthony Joshua’s next opponent

‘AJ’ is still on the hunt for a comeback fight after talks over a potential clash with Jake Paul collapsed

Eddie Hearn has revealed plans for Anthony Joshua to make his ring return in 2026 against a carefully selected top-15 fighter, after his brutal knockout defeat at the hands of Daniel Dubois almost a year ago.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Hearn explained that Joshua will fight in January or February in a competitive yet tentatively-chosen fight, to prepare him for one last attempt at a potential clash with Tyson Fury.

Hearn said: “We’ve got to choose carefully for the next fight, and I think the best way in all of this is just to be honest and say the next fight will be a comeback fight to build into a roll of the dice next summer.

“We need a top-15 guy. It’s not going to be Fury, [Oleksandr] Usyk, Dubois, all of those top guys.”

Hearn made it clear that “AJ”’s next fight is nothing more than a stepping stone for a blockbuster fight in the summer, but it is also last-chance saloon for the former world heavyweight champion, and a defeat could derail those plans entirely.

He said: “We need someone so that AJ can come back in a competitive fight after being out for what will be over a year and get himself ready.

“A defeat now at this stage of his career would be devastating to those plans. So we need to get it right”.

Joshua has been linked to many names in the heavyweight division, including Martin Bakole and Tony Yoka. It even looked as though he was close to making a controversial fight with Jake Paul before the announcement of Paul vs Gervonta Davis.

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Tyson Fury is set to come out of retirement (Zac Goodwin/PA) (PA Wire)

With that now off the table, it appears Joshua is solely focused on getting his summer showdown with Fury. However, Hearn admitted that the fight rests on Fury, who continues to make regular U-turns on his retirement.

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Hearn explained: “Right now all that’s in my mind in an ideal scenario is to fight Tyson Fury next year. That’s the big focus. From a common-sense perspective, the fight has to happen in 2026. But common sense and Fury’s decisions don’t always gel together."

Hearn also predicted that Fury would not jump straight into the AJ fight, as Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh has mandated that both men fight once before they can meet, but he sees Joshua as the only man Fury would return for at this point.

He said: "If he’s going to come back, I just don’t see what else you come back for [other than the AJ fight]. I don’t think he’ll go straight in for AJ. Hopefully, he can get a fight in early 2026 and then we’ll have ours and we can finally get it on.”

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