Promoter Eddie Hearn revealed that Anthony Joshua will attend the 5 vs 5 event this Saturday night in Riyadh to watch the heavyweight contest between Filip Hrgovic and Daniel Dubois, live on DAZN PPV.
Joshua, the former two-time heavyweight champion, could fight the winner of the Hrgovic-Dubois fight in September, possibly with the vacant IBF title on the line
It’s not certain that Joshua will fight the winner of that contest, as Hearn says Deontay Wilder is a possibility if he’s victorious on Saturday in his clash against Zhilei Zhang and looks good.
It could come down to whether the IBF belt is stripped from Oleksandr Usyk and available for a fight between Joshua and the Hrgovic-Dubois winner.
Joshua’s Scouting Mission
Joshua will be doing a scouting run on Saturday to watch these two heavyweights and get a gauge on them in case he winds up facing the winner.
“AJ is coming this week, and this is really off his own back,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to Queensberry about Anthony Joshua coming to the 5 vs. 5 event on Saturday to watch the Filip Hrgovic vs. Daniel Dubois fight.
“He was invited to Fury-Usyk, and obviously, it’s a massive fight, but he loves this concept, and he knows a lot of the fighters on the card.
Potential Future Fights
The frontrunner to fight AJ next is the winner of Hrgovic-Dubois and is likely to be for the [IBF heavyweight] world title,” said Hearn.
Again, if the IBF title isn’t available for Joshua to win, he might not take the winner of the Hrgovic vs. Dubois because it would be a needless risk. Neither of them are popular, and they hit hard and might clip Joshua with one of their shots.
“At the same time, if Deontay Wilder looks sensational, maybe it ignites Joshua against Wilder. So, great news that the rematch is made between Usyk and Fury because it’s a huge fight,” said Hearn.
It’s fair to say that Wilder won’t win on Saturday night against Zhang, and Hearn won’t bother matching Joshua against Zhilei
“I’m kind of glad it’s December because sometimes you can lock it in for October, and you get to August, but the guy is not quite ready,” said Hearn. “So it gives the guys enough time. We [Joshua] will likely fight in September, and we will have our eyes peeled for both of those heavyweight fights [Hrgovic vs. Dubois and Wilder vs. Zhilei Zhang].
“They’re talking about a press conference as soon as June 24th or 25th in London. I heard him say today in an interview. So the card [in September for Joshua’s next fight] is really shaping up. Myself, George and Spencer, and His Excellency brain-storming on all three tremendous fights, and AJ is set to headline. We’ll find out against who,” said Hearn.
