British superstar Anthony Joshua To Have Elbow Surgery, Won’t Return To Gym For 6-8 Weeks
Anthony Joshua’s return to the ring has been delayed by another couple of months after the British superstar revealed he will have surgery on his elbow later this month.
“AJ” hasn’t been in action since a devastating fifth-round knockout defeat to IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois in September
Originally, there were plans for Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs), 35, to return this spring, but after his promoter Eddie Hearn revealed an “upper body” injury, his next fight was pushed back to late summer.
Joshua, however, who is in Saudi Arabia to watch Canelo Alvarez’s undisputed super-middleweight clash with William Scull, has revealed that he will have to have a minor operation on his elbow in the coming weeks, adding that the recovery time could be close to two months.
“When do you want me back, people? I’m trying to get my body right,” he said to Claudia Trejos on the DAZN broadcast.
“I’ve got to actually have a little surgery on my elbow, a small surgery, some time in May. We’re just finalising the details.
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“I’ll be out of the gym for maybe six to eight weeks and then when I’m healed I’ll be back.”
Providing Joshua doesn’t return to the gym until the beginning of July, and working on the assumption he doesn’t start training camp straight away, it’s likely the former two-time heavyweight champion won’t be back in action until October at the earliest.
Tyson Fury, who hinted he would be making a comeback earlier this week following his January retirement, has been mooted as a potential opponent for Joshua once both men are in fighting shape.
The pair, who are two of Britain’s biggest sport stars, have been on a collision course to do battle for at least eight years now, but there have been various stumbling blocks at the negotiating table each time an attempt has been made to make the fight.
And it now looks like the wait to see what would be the biggest British clash of its generation will go on, likely until the end of 2025 or the first quarter of 2026.
A rematch with Dubois also was an option for Joshua at one point, but “Dynamite” is scheduled to rematch Oleksandr Usyk for all the belts on July 19 at Wembley Stadium, where he stopped Joshua more than seven months ago.
