Eddie Hearn says His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wants to see a rematch between Anthony Joshua and IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois.
Hearn states that Joshua and Dubois both want a rematch. However, Hearn isn’t sure whether Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) will happen next for AJ because he has other options. There’s the Tyson Fury fight that Hearn wants to happen, and he’ll be waiting to see the outcome of his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk on December 21st.
Hearn is dancing around the subject, but it’s still obvious that he wants Joshua to put off the rematch with Dubois until after he fights Fury for the $100 million+ payday in early 2025. He said he wants Joshua to fight Fury twice next year, which means that the rematch with Dubois might not happen until 2026 if AJ doesn’t retire.
Joshua, 34, suffered a bad defeat to Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) last Saturday night, being dropped four times in a fifth-round knockout loss in front of a large crowd at Wembley Stadium. Going straight back in with the 27-year-old Dubois, a massive puncher, would be putting Joshua’s career at risk.
Although Hearn blames the defeat on Joshua making mistakes in the first round that cost him the fight, the more accurate reason he lost is because Dubois is too young, powerful, and rugged. He’s the type of fighter that AJ would lost to at any stage of his career, even when he first turned professional in 2013. However, his punch resistance has deteriorated, with Joshua being 34 and having a lot of mileage on his odometer from his fights against Wladimir Klitschko, Andy Ruiz, and Alexander Povetkin.
“His Excellency wants the rematch. AJ will always want the rematch because he’s a fighter, and Daniel Dubois is up for the rematch, too. It’s the biggest fight for him,” said Eddie Hearn to talkSport Boxing about the Daniel Dubois vs. Anthony Joshua rematch.
“Do we go straight into the rematch and when would that rematch take place? I said to AJ, ‘You don’t have a mark on you, but you got chinned. We’re not going back to work in 10 to 12 weeks. You need your rest. You need to recover.'”
