Anthony Joshua Comeback Plans Take Disappointing Twist
Anthony Joshua has now been out of the ring for a full 12 months.
The former two-time unified world heavyweight champion last fought in September 2024 when he was stopped inside five rounds by then IBF ruler Daniel Dubois, who has since lost his title to undisputed king Oleksandr Usyk,
Joshua has been recovering from an elbow injury but is now back in the gym and looking to make a comeback as he works towards more big nights in 2026, hopefully against the likes of long-time rival Tyson Fury.
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Speaking to Sky Sports, his promoter, Eddie Hearn, was honest about the level at which Joshua will come back after so long out.
“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 want that to be against Tyson Fury. If it’s not, it’s going to be a massive fight.
“We need a top-15 guy [next]. It’s not going to be Fury, Usyk, Dubois, all of those top guys. 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 for what will be one last roll of the dice.”
Though fans will be disappointed that the Olympic Gold Medals and twice unified champ is once again returning for a lower level fight, it’s fair to say that a loss for Joshua at this stage will be devastating to his career plans, so it’s important he gets back to winning ways before one final push, with Martin Bakole one man who has called him out recently.
