ANTHONY JOSHUA has hinted at getting into the football business alongside his boxing promoter Eddie Hearn.
Hearns’s dad Barry has overseen events in boxing, darts, snooker and pool as head of Matchroom Sports.
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But his son heads up the boxing operation and has had his biggest nights promoting Joshua’s rise to the top of the heavyweight division.
AJ is even signed to a life-time agreement to only be promoted by Matchroom – such is the strength of their relationship.
And Joshua wants to extend it to a move into football agency.
Tagging Hearn on Instagram, he posted: “The family has conquered darts, snooker, pool, boxing, fishing, golf, owning a football club & you’ve had a presence in basketball, netball & gymnastics.
‘I believe “we” could look at the football agency industry and have a strong presence.
“Imagine we help manage the player who helped England win the World Cup. Call me tomorrow mate.”
Hearn’s dad Barry was chairman of Leyton Orient from 1995-2014 – while Joshua has considered investing in his home club Watford before.
And Hearn told British GQ in 2020 that he and AJ were talking about a move into football.
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He said: “Do you know what? I’ll just say it. Me and AJ are talking about doing it.
“We’ve looked at it for a while and he mentioned it to me the other day and he said, ‘You know how to represent athletes, you can use my brand and my name, I know a lot of the players, we go out. You know how to build a career on the pitch and off the pitch commercially, so what do you think?’
“It may not happen, but we’re looking at it. Could be fun.”
Joshua, 35, became a two-time unified world champion under the guidance of Hearn.
He is yet to return since being knocked out by Daniel Dubois, 27, last September with the 2012 Olympic gold medallist having elbow surgery in the summer.
The plan is to return before the year is over with shock talks to fight YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, 28, in 2026.
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