ANTHONY JOSHUA has a list of ten names considered for his next fight – expected to be a warm-up before facing Tyson Fury.
AJ is yet to return since being knocked out by Daniel Dubois in September 2024 – before having elbow surgery in the summer.
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Fury meanwhile announced his retirement in January following two losses to Oleksandr Usyk last year – but he has teased a comeback.
Joshua, 35, called out Fury, 37, on social media and promoter Eddie Hearn expects the pair to return in separate tune-up fights first.
Hearn told Sky Sports: “Now he’s back in training and my conversations over the last couple of weeks have been very positive with him about locking in a date and returning.
“Then I saw that post [directed at Fury]. When AJ posts something like that, you know that he’s on.
“He’s like ‘let’s go, I’m back’ and that’s where we’re up to. So the next move is to lock in that fight in early 2026 and then we want Tyson Fury.
“We expect Fury to have another fight as well, if he’s going to fight AJ. There haven’t really been any conversations.
“The kind of vibe I’m getting from the team is ‘we’re confident it will happen’. But until we start talking, who knows?
“We’re not just putting all our eggs in one basket to say it’s Tyson Fury because before that we’re going to have another fight and we’ve got to win that one first.”
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Joshua has had an offer to return in Ghana while 2016 Olympic gold medallist Tony Yoka, 33, is a potential return opponent.
Hearn said: “Tony Yoka, he’s definitely on a list of, I don’t know, ten?. I expect it to be a top-20 guy. It’s not going to be top five.
“This is a comeback fight that should possess some danger to show that we’re ready to roll the dice in a massive fight.
“Nothing really discussed, no offers made. But I’ll be going to see AJ next week and we’re ready to lock it in.”
Joshua was in shock talks to fight YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
But it was shelved after Paul, 28, announced a November 14 exhibition against lightweight champ Gervonta Davis, 30, who is FIVE STONE lighter.
Hearn said: “It’s such a huge size difference. Who knows?
“They’ve come on to me and said we want to make that fight [with AJ]. I said I can’t make that fight until you’ve fought Gervonta Davis in this exhibition.
“If you get chinned by Gervonta Davis, don’t think you’re fighting Anthony Joshua, it’s ridiculous.
“So we’d rather they didn’t take that fight if we’re going to make the [AJ] fight.”
Paul’s camp have insisted the plan is still to make a bout with two-time heavyweight champ Joshua next year.
But Hearn said: “We’re certainly not holding out for a Jake Paul fight. We’re making our own plans and that will be January, February 2026.”
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