Despite recently announcing that he would be making three fights this year, former unified heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua apparently would be making only two, as he says his next fight isn’t happening until December.
Two fights in 2023 “part of a bigger goal” says Anthony Joshua
There was a recent announcement from Anthony Joshua that he would fight three times this year, but a recent post on his social media shows that will not be the case after all. And as it seems, Joshua, himself isn’t satiated with the decision either.
“My next fight is scheduled for December,” Joshua posted on his Instagram story on Sunday. “Not ideal but it’s all part of a bigger goal.”
Joshua is coming off a decision victory over Jermaine Franklin this month at the O2 Arena in London. It was his first fight since his two straight losses to unified champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Moments after his victory, “AJ” had hinted that he could be back in the ring by the summer, perhaps against Joe Joyce, Otto Wallin or Dillian Whyte in order to gain more experience under the wing of new coach Derrick James.
Ever since Joshua’s loss to Usyk last year in their rematch in Saudi Arabia, his promoter, Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, insisted that the priority will be to ‘rebuild’ Joshua through a string of fights and has stressed several times that his wish was to have the Briton fight three times in 2023.
Following Joshua’s win over Franklin, Hearn said Joshua was looking forward to getting back in the ring in 12 weeks. Hearn said Joshua should fight in July or August so he can get a third fight before the end of the year.
“I would like to see [Joshua] get some rest and then go straight back to Texas with Derrick and try to fight at the end of the summer and then try to fight again in December. It would be great for his career,” Hearn told Boxing Social. However, it looks like Joshua won’t be fighting for another eight months.
After Franklin’s win, there was a lot of talk in the boxing world about whether or not Joshua needed one or two more tune-up fights before considering a major showdown against the likes of L. former champion Deontay Wilder or WBC champion Tyson Fury.
