Anthony Joshua is heading towards the end of what has been a hugely successful boxing career.
The Brit reinvigorated the heavyweight division and brought huge numbers of fans to the sport over the last 13 years since he won his gold medal at the Olympics in 2012.
After turning professional, power puncher ‘AJ’ quickly rose up through the ranks to become a world champion and then a unified belt holder. As well as good wins over the likes of Wladimir Klitschko, Dillian Whyte and Aleksandr Povetkin, there were setback losses on the way to Andy Ruiz and then back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk that left him belt-less.
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His attempt to regain world honours fell short back in September when he lost to Daniel Dubois by 5th round knockout. In the aftermath, many thought the one and only fight left to make was with former champion and fellow British boxing star Tyson Fury, who also twice lost to Usyk.
However, Fury’s retirement announcement in January rather ruined those plans.
Speaking to talkSPORT Boxing, promoter Eddie Hearn revealed that Joshua has moved on from the idea of fighting Fury for now and named the fight he wants.
“Daniel Dubois rematch.”
He then corrected himself and pointed out Joshua was more interested in becoming a three-time world champion than getting his revenge.
“Not even the Dubois rematch. The world heavyweight championship. I think Parker is going to be Dubois so maybe we fight Parker.”
All eyes then turn to February 22 when Dubois puts his IBF title on the line for a second time against former champ Parker. Though Hearn believes the New Zealander will upset the odds, former Parker opponent Derek Chisora backs Dubois.
