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Tyson Fury’s alleged retirement from boxing has potentially complicated Anthony Joshua’s future, as the British pair finally seemed poised to face one another before Monday’s news.
Fury has claimed to retire numerous times throughout his career, and many in the boxing world feel that his latest retirement is no different to his previous ones.
That said, if the former heavyweight champion has hung up his gloves, Joshua’s next move may be less clear. After “AJ”’s knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in September, and Fury’s two decision defeats by Oleksandr Usyk in 2024, it seemed fans would finally get to see Joshua vs Fury.
But whom could Joshua box, if it is not Fury?
“It all really depends on what Tyson Fury decides to do,” Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, told The Independent and other publications on Monday (13 January).
“If he wants to fight AJ, the fight gets made in an instant, but if he doesn’t want to fight AJ, there’s nothing we can do about it and we will focus on the Dubois-Parker winner.” On 22 February, Dubois defends the IBF heavyweight title against Joseph Parker, whom Joshua outpointed in 2018.
“There are loads of fights we could take,” Hearn continued. “Just like Tyson Fury would have been struggling [after losing to Usyk again in December], AJ struggled with the Dubois defeat, there’s no doubt about it. He’s only just come through the other side and now he’s got the bit between his teeth.
“Even when [Martin] Bakole called him out the other day, I think that gave him a kick up the a**, because his response was: ‘Come on then, I’ll fight you’. I’m not sure that’s the fight for us, but…”
Bakole, a Congolese heavyweight who fights out of Scotland, believes he is one of the most-avoided fighters in the division. Most recently, he knocked out Jared Anderson in August.
Hearn added: “With AJ, it’s not, ‘He will only fight if it’s a big opportunity or if the money’s there’, but I just look at Fury or the world heavyweight championship as the two real options that are going to give him the money and the challenge that he needs. But if he didn’t fight the winner of Dubois-Parker or Fury, he would still fight again, 100 per cent. He has absolutely no interest in retiring.”
Also on 22 February, Zhilei Zhang fights the unbeaten Agit Kabayel in a heavyweight match-up. Joshua has been linked to Kabayel before, while it is not believed that he would face Zhang, who has stopped Deontay Wilder and Joe Joyce (twice) in recent bouts.
