Two-time former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is looking to do business. According to Matchroom Boxing chairman Eddie Hearn, Joshua is working on a two-fight deal with Riyadh Season for his first fights since being knocked out by Daniel Dubois this past September.
Joshua had a deal in place to rematch Dubois, but was sidelined when an elbow injury required surgery. Joshua is now in the post-surgery rehabilitation process, with a return to the ring expected sometime late in the year.
That return, according to Hearn, will come as a part of a deal with Turki Alalshikh’s ongoing boxing takeover attempt.
“We are actually discussing a two-fight deal with Riyadh Season,” Hearn told BoxingScene. “We’ve been doing that, [Turki Alalshikh] said that on the night of [Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. William Scull], when we had our meeting, and that’s the plan, really. We want to box sometime this year in October, November, December.”
There are big targets for potential Joshua fights, primarily the winner of the upcoming rematch between Oleksander Usyk and Dubois for the undisputed heavyweight championship or the long-discussed British megafight with Tyson Fury.
Fury recently said he is planning to stay retired despite many expecting him to return to the ring eventually. Talks of Fury and Joshua sharing the ring date back many years but a deal has never materialized for what would be the biggest fight in British boxing history.
The rematch between Usyk and Dubois is scheduled for July 19. Should Dubois win, a rubber match would seem the inevitable next step. If Usyk wins, it’s unknown if he would be interested in a third Joshua fight, having already defeated Joshua twice, or if he would be open to fighting again before the end of the year.
Hearn told BoxingScene that Dillian Whyte and Jared Anderson are “two guys that have been discussed” for Joshua’s return should those bigger fights not materialize.