Eddie Hearn reveals Anthony Joshua return date for fight with ‘carefully’ chosen opponent

Anthony Joshua won’t be thrown back in at the deep end for his next fight.

According to AJ’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, the former unified heavyweight world champion will face a ‘carefully’ selected opponent in January or early February before one last roll of the dice next summer.

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Joshua hasn’t stepped between the ropes since suffering a crushing knockout loss to Daniel Dubois last September.

The expectation was that the Watford powerhouse would return in 2025, but Joshua isn’t rushing back to the ring after recovering from elbow surgery.

“We’ve got to choose carefully for the next fight, and I think the best way in all of this is just to be honest and say the next fight will be a comeback fight to build into a roll of the dice next summer,” Hearn told Sky Sports.

“We need a top-15 guy [next]. It’s not going to be Fury, Usyk, Dubois, all of those top guys.

“We need someone so that AJ can come back in a competitive fight after being out for what will be over a year and get himself ready for what will be one last roll of the dice.

“A defeat now at this stage of his career would be devastating to those plans. So we need to get it right.”

Joshua has been in talks over a bizarre crossover clash against Jake Paul next year.

However, Paul doesn’t fit the billing of a top 15 heavyweight.

Hearn stopped short of revealing potential next opponents for his client, although the target for Joshua’s summer blockbuster remains the same.

“Right now, all that’s in my mind in an ideal scenario is to fight Tyson Fury next year. That’s the big focus,” added Hearn.

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“From a common-sense perspective, the fight has to happen in 2026.

“But common sense and Fury’s decisions don’t always gel together.

“He’s got to want to come back. It’s a personal decision…

“I think the minute you try and persuade him is where it probably goes all wrong.

“You’ve got to let him do his own thing. When he’s ready and if he’s up for it, you’ll know about it.

“I think there’s a feeling that the fight will happen, but we’ve been here so many times before, and if you start trying to guess what Tyson Fury’s going to do next, it starts to become a very confusing game.

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“But if he’s going to come back, I just don’t see what else you come back for.

“I don’t think he’ll go straight in for AJ. Hopefully, he can get [his comeback] fight in early 2026, and then we’ll have ours, and then we finally get it on. But who knows?”