Anthony Joshua Eyeing Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk – Eddie Hearn

By: Gyang Dakwo

Anthony Joshua will fight the winner of the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury rematch in 2025 if he beats Daniel Dubois on Sept. 21, according to the boxer’s promoter Eddie Hearn.

Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs), 34, bids to become a three-time world heavyweight champion when he challenges English rival Daniel Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs), 26, at Wembley Stadium in London in front of an expected 96,000 fans, the highest crowd ever for a boxing event in the UK.

If Joshua wins, he will set up an even bigger fight against either English rival Fury or Usyk, who beat Joshua on points in 2021 and 2022.

WBA-WBO-IBF champion Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs), 37, faces Fury in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 21 after he outpointed Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs), 36, in May.

Joshua and Fury have been linked to fighting each other for four years now, but Hearn hopes it will finally happen next year in a two-part series.

Joshua, who ruled as champion from 2016 to 2019 and then from 2019 to 2021, has twice had negotiations with former WBC champion Fury break down and fail to produce a fight, despite the fight being valued at £200 million in 2020.

Hearn told reporters: “If he wins on Sept. 21 I believe he will fight Tyson Fury, win or lose against Usyk, but he also wants to fight Usyk for undisputed, that’s always been his dream.

“I know that if [Joshua] wins Sept. 21 the only fight he will want is the winner of Usyk vs. Fury II. Don’t get me wrong he has always wanted to fight Fury, he will do it, but when the decision is read out on Sept. 21 he will want the winner of that fight because he’s only one fight away from being undisputed himself.

Hearn also reckons Joshua’s popularity is as strong as ever after he has rebuilt his career following defeats to Andy Ruiz (2019) and twice to Usyk. In the past 12 months, Joshua has won three fights by KO.

He is confident Dubois vs. Joshua will sell out the extended capacity of 96,000, to make it bigger than Joshua’s other stadium fights against Usyk (at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2021), Alexander Povetkin (at Wembley Stadium in 2018), Joseph Parker (at Principality Stadium in 2018) and Wladimir Klitschko, which was watched by 90,000 at Wembley Stadium in 2017.