In a brief interview with The Ring Magazine, Mathroom’s Eddie Hearn explained that he and Anthony Joshua are “not targeting” a Deontay Wilder fight.
This comes as Tyson Fury — the potential matchup for Joshua, with both hoping to make one last stab at a heavyweight strap — announces that he has officially retired, for good, this time.
”It’s not one of the fights we’re targeting, because the only two fights we’re targeting is Tyson Fury and the Dubois-Parker winner.”
Hearn saying this was expected, as Joshua still believes he has enough fuel in the tank to defeat Daniel Dubois 22–2 (21 KOs) in a rematch, where he previously got knocked out in round five, or Joseph Parker 35-3 (23 KOs), who pulverized Wilder in an upset in late 2023.
But, Hearn did mention, that Joshua “would fight anybody,” at this point, and really, that is a fine approach for him.
39-year-old Wilder, 43-4-1 (42 KOs), will go down as an all-time heavyweight great, getting 42 out of his 43 won bouts by knockout. But, he is clearly already mentally checked out of the sport, looking less than average in his last few bouts, and losing four of his last five.
The reality is that, this fight will still sell due to the history of both fighters, and this win would be the ideal tuneup for Joshua, to boost his confidence heading into a shot at a strap.
A Fury-Joshua matchup would have been interesting though, because, well, the loser would likely hang up the gloves, and the winner gets to — hopefully — fight for some hardware.
So, if Fury really is seriously done, why wouldn’t Joshua take this fight? It feels like the best opportunity to get a confidence boosting win against an inactive fighter, heading into one last chance at greatness.
Jack Walsh is a New York-based journalist, currently working at a television station as a real time editor, and also an amateur boxer. He hopes to continue diving into the journalistic side of boxing and provide a unique, independent perspective. His work has also appeared in Boxing News Online.