By Declan Taylor
ANTHONY JOSHUA will open the door to back-to-back fights with Tyson Fury in 2025 with a win over Daniel Dubois.
That is the prediction of promoter Eddie Hearn, who also believes the two-time world heavyweight champion feels no pressure because he has “lost the fear of losing”.
London pair Joshua and Dubois will meet at Wembley Stadium on September 21 in front of a record crowd of 96,000.
Joshua is the challenger for Dubois’ IBF world heavyweight title, but after losing the belt to both Andy Ruiz and Oleksandr Usyk during his career, another defeat to the 26-year-old is unthinkable.
Hearn believes AJ may only have another 18 months to fight, but a win at Wembley would ensure 2025 is not only the most lucrative year of his career, but also his most prominent.
Fury will face Usyk in a world heavyweight rematch in Riyadh on December 21 but regardless of the outcome, Hearn believes the long-awaited Battle of Britain will be next if Joshua can win the Saudi-sponsored event this month.
The Matchroom boss said: “How many more fights does Joshua have in the UK? It depends on whether he keeps winning. If he wins on September 21, I believe he will fight Tyson Fury, win or lose against Usyk. But Joshua also wants to fight Usyk for the title, that’s always been his dream.
“The best thing about September 21 is Turkish [Al-Alshikh] would look around Wembley and just say ‘wow’. He would die wanting to do another one. In an ideal world, and this is not something I have discussed with him [Turki]AJ wins, Fury wins, two fights next year for Unputed – one in Riyadh, one at Wembley. But again, that’s just my hope, no sign from Turki.
“You’ve seen him hungry to perform all over the world and I think he’ll love Wembley.
“If AJ knocks out his opponent in spectacular fashion, all eyes will be on Fury-Usyk and the momentum from AJ’s impressive win will carry him into 2025, which, ironically, could be the defining moment of his career.”
With two fights remaining with Fury, much is riding on Joshua’s victory on September 21, but Hearn remains adamant that the 34-year-old has the experience to handle the fight.
He added: “The feeling I have is that the fear of losing is really gone. Because of the Ruiz and Usyk defeats, because you’ve been through it before, you’ve been there and you know how painful it is. We’re not looking at this fight and saying ‘the pressure is on because if you lose to Dubois what could happen’. We’re just excited for the fight.
“I think it’s a really tough and dangerous fight. It will be interesting to see what Dubois does and whether he can handle the pressure. I know he fought Usyk in Poland but this is going to be a moment that will make his knees shake.
“Not only do you have to have a big set of bollocks, you have to have a really strong mind to be calm in moments like this. I think that will make him fight more erratically, which is again a danger. But whatever the game plan is, I think he will struggle to apply it. I don’t think he will have the cool head that can make it a shootout. It’s a very, very dangerous fight.”
“But he is not afraid of losing, he accepts every challenge and this time it just so happens that the world championship title comes with it.”
Joshua is on a three-fight knockout streak, having beaten Roberto Helenius, Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou. It is clear that his partnership with new trainer Ben Davison has been a success so far and Hearn believes September 21 will provide further evidence that Harlow is the right place for the London 2012 Olympic champion.
“There was a period of time when I would go into the locker room, especially around Usyk, Franklin and even Helenius fights, when I would watch him punching on the pads and not really being fluent or clicking,” Hearn said.
“Then I went into the dressing room half an hour before the Wallin game and I thought ‘fuck, I’ve never seen anything like this’. Everything Ben was doing, you could see AJ was achieving everything. He had complete trust in Ben and Lee Wylie that the game plan was absolutely perfect.
“When he gets the whole plan and when it’s fully implemented, we think he’s unbeatable. And that’s how we feel right now. We feel like everything we saw in training camp is exactly what’s going to happen on September 21.
“With all due respect to Dubois, he makes mistakes and he is not a difficult fighter to train. He is strong, he can punch and he is a physical problem. When you analyse a fighter like that, it is not difficult for Ben Davison and Lee Wylie to figure out the game plan.”
